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Groundwater Authority adopts roughly $9.3 million 2026 budget, cites grants and settlement funds
Summary
The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority approved a proposed 2026 budget that relies heavily on grant funding and settlement proceeds, and uses Mojave Pistachios settlement money to reconcile interfund loans, board members said.
The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority on Oct. 8, 2025 approved a proposed 2026 budget that budgets about $9.3 million in revenues and roughly $8.66 million in expenses, General Manager Carol told the board.
The budget centers on three large grant programs and a settlement-funded “second transient pool” that the authority expects to use to offset operating costs, Carol said. The staff presentation noted the authority will close out most of a $7.6 million Sigma IP grant this year, continue work under a nearly $2 million Urban Communities Drought Relief grant that funds consolidation work, and pursue expenses under a new EPA resilience grant.
“Total revenues budgeted for about 9.3 million and total expenses of about 8.66,” General Manager Carol said during the board presentation. Carol also told the board the authority expects to transfer settlement proceeds from the Mojave Pistachios second transient pool into the extraction fund to help repay interfund loans.
Board members asked for more detail on the repayment plan for interfund loans between the extraction fund and the augmentation (replenishment) fund. Carol and Stetson consultant Steve said the Mojave Pistachios settlement proceeds will be used to reconcile those internal loans and make the replenishment and extraction funds whole once final numbers are available.
“We are using funds from the Mojave settlement to offset what was borrowed from replenishment to extraction,” Steve said. He added that staff will finalize accounting and close out remaining interfund balances once final figures are available.
Board discussion included a request for staff to provide additional detail about funding restrictions and the legal or programmatic limits on transfers between funds. No public commenters addressed the budget; the board moved and adopted the budget as presented.
The budget packet also shows ongoing work to reduce outstanding obligations to the city for prior-year services, and staff said the authority will continue “pay-as-you-go” arrangements for services going forward. The packet estimated $633,000 of income tied to the second transient pool from the Mojave Pistachios settlement; the board will discuss more detailed accounting and any needed amendments as final numbers are reconciled.
Action: The board moved and approved adoption of the 2026 budget (motion carried).
