Commission delays docket price changes, appoints committee to review cost-share rates before fall grant round

Commissioners debated a request from Kuster County to update the commission’s cost-share docket rates for pipelines and tanks, citing recent increases in input and contractor costs.

Mike Baldwin (Kuster) presented recommended rate changes based on conversations with local producers and a review of Game, Fish & Parks and NRCS practice schedules. Some commissioners warned that piecemeal changes during the current grant round would disadvantage applicants who had already budgeted using the existing docket. Others said current docket figures are already lagging behind market costs for materials and trenching.

The commission did not adopt Kuster’s requested changes at this meeting. Instead, commissioners voted to deny immediate action on the Kuster request while directing staff to convene a short committee to gather systematic pricing data and propose a consolidated docket update to be considered before the November fall grant round. Commissioners proposed a committee of three to four commissioners with staff and partner input; volunteers identified included Tom Glover, Charlie M., and Dwayne Schneider, with staff support from department employees and invitations to NRCS and Game, Fish & Parks.

The committee’s charge is to survey supplier prices, contractor costs and comparable practice schedules, then produce recommended docket adjustments in time for districts to use the updated schedule when drafting fall grant applications. Commissioners said the objective is to balance incentive levels that encourage implementation with fiscal constraints in a way that maximizes conservation outcomes per dollar.

No immediate dollar changes were made; the docket remains in effect as previously published until the committee reports.