Craig Daily Press

Craig — The Moffat County Com­mission met with Budget Ana­lyst Tinneal Gerber on Tuesday and discussed current and fu­­ture Colorado Department of Local Affairs grants.

At the Commission’s Nov. 27 meeting, members agreed to be the third local DOLA priority for the agency’s Dec. 1 request cycle, after grant proposals by The Memorial Hospital and the city of Craig.

The county is waiting to hear about its $1.5 million grant request for six miles of road overlay on County Road 7 northwest of Craig. County officials plan to provide $75,040 in services for the project as a county-funded match.

DOLA recommends those requesting grants do provide some form of match on their applications. Recently proposed rule changes would lower the recommended match from 50 percent to 25 percent.

Those changes also create a tiered request system, and would allow for smaller grants — up to $200,000 — to be approved without a formal hearing.

The Commission is concerned matches may be weighted too heavily in DOLA’s granting process, Gerber said. Expensive energy impact projects, such as road repairs, can create situations where the county cannot afford a 25 percent match.

Commission members feel Moffat County’s unique geography exasperates the problem, Gerber said. The county gets all the through-traffic between Wyoming and Colorado counties to the south but does not get any of the property or sales tax revenues from those energy companies.

Overall, though, county officials support DOLA’s proposed changes, Gerber said.

The Commission plans to meet with city officials, Moffat County School District representatives and others sometime in early March to look at prioritizing upcoming DOLA grant cycles in April and August.

The county still is considering applying for some dollars to help renovate the heating and cooling systems at the Moffat County Courthouse, Gerber said. County officials do plan a match for that project.