IDWR shrinks with budget cuts…

The proposed general-fund appropriation for the Idaho Department of Water Resources next year is about equal to its levels from 2002 and 2005, interim director Gary Spackman told JFAC this morning. The agency would take another 1.4 percent cut next year, under the governor’s budget proposal, for a total three-year reduction in IDWR’s state funding of nearly 30 percent. IDWR hasn’t had a permanent director in 18 months. It’s lost its longtime deputy attorney general; eliminated its public information unit and web designer; laid off a grants and contracts specialist in the adjudication bureau; eliminated that bureau’s chief; and closed offices in Salmon and Soda Springs.

There have been other significant reductions as well; among them: Dam safety staff has been cut from 7.5 to three, with no regional presence in eastern or northern Idaho; stream channel staffing has been cut from 6.5 to two people and now is primarily funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to do federal work; and five people have been cut from water rights processing. Mandatory furloughs of 48 hours per year per employee have been imposed; work tasks are being prioritized to put the most urgent first; and further staff reductions are likely.

“We’ve been strapped and limited,” Spackman said. “We’ll have to look at our priorities, and we may have to say, well, the stream channel protection program may have to go away.” Only the most urgent water issues can be addressed as the agency continues to shrink, he said.