Permanent Transfer of Reservoir Storage
In order to formalize its policy regarding permanent transfers of reservoir storage by its membership, Greybull Valley Irrigation District (GVID) adopts the following guidelines.
BACKGROUND
All storage that is owned by GVID members in Upper Sunshine Reservoir, Lower Sunshine Reservoir and Greybull Valley Reservoir (Roach Gulch Reservoir) is tied to specific lands within the District. Each parcel with reservoir storage appears on one or more assessment rolls that were approved by the District Court at the inception of each reservoir project. Each parcel of land will appear on each separate reservoir assessment roll for which the owner purchased storage. The assessment roll is the mechanism by which District members are taxed each year for costs of reservoir construction or for operation and maintenance. Under the Wyoming Statutes, GVID is entitled to a prior lien against lands on the assessment rolls, to guarantee payment of taxes levied by the District.
Upper Sunshine Reservoir storage is also attached to particular parcels of land by means of a secondary permit, and under the terms of the permit cannot be moved from these lands. Lower Sunshine Reservoir and Roach Gulch Reservoir storage, however, has not been tied to specific lands by permit; no secondary permit has ever been filed for these reservoirs.
POLICY
It is GVID’s policy that storage in its reservoirs may not be used on nor attached to lands outside the boundaries of the District. Storage in Lower Sunshine Reservoir and Roach Gulch Reservoir may be permanently transferred to lands within the District subject to conditions:
1. Prior written application must be made to the GVID Board of Commissioners, setting out the amounts of storage proposed to be permanently transferred, the reservoirs in which the storage rights are contained, the lands from which and to which the storage is sought to be transferred, the ownership of these lands, the amount of storage capacity currently tied to these lands, and the current assessed valuation of these lands. The application shall include permission for the transfer from any holder of a lien against the lands from which the permanent transfer of storage is sought.
2. The GVID Board of Commissioners will consider whether the assessed value of the lands to which the transfer is proposed is ample to guarantee the payment of projected future assessments, and whether the amount of storage sought to be transferred will be greater than can be beneficially used upon the land to which it is to be transferred.
3. The GVID Board may require that a proposed transfer be of a minimum amount of storage, or that a proposed transfer of less than the minimum amount include all of the storage assessed to those lands in the reservoir or reservoirs involved.
4. After approval by the GVID Board, the proposed transfer of reservoir storage will be submitted to the Wyoming District Court for its approval, which is required before any transfer on the assessment rolls can be completed. All transfers approved by the Board will be submitted to the court annually.
5. All legal and administrative costs of storage transfers incurred by the District will be paid by the party proposing the transfer.
6. This policy may be amended from time to time in light of experience or changing conditions.