WQ advisory board to weigh conditions for $6.897M water-quality SPET split

Teton County’s Water Quality Advisory Board (WQAB) met March 20 to review the Board of County Commissioners’ (BCC) direction on splitting $6.897 million in remaining 2022 Water Quality SPET money and to draft correspondence back to the commissioners. The agenda lists the BCC’s direction to fund Wilson Sewer District at $2.25 million, Elk Refuge Sewer District at $1.25 million, the Town of Jackson at $1.5 million, and Trout Unlimited at $80,000. It also notes two buckets still “projects TBD”: $1.5 million for county infrastructure and $317,000 for county monitoring/studies (a combined $1.817 million). See: Water Quality Advisory Board Meeting Agenda.

At the BCC’s March 2 workshop, county staff outlined a review process where sponsors presented requests to the WQAB, the WQAB voted on recommended funding amounts, and staff/WQAB developed conditions for BCC consideration. Staff’s workshop packet frames the remaining $6.897 million as the balance after prior allocations (including $3 million to Hoback Junction Water and Sewer District for an improved water supply system, plus smaller allocations). See: Water Quality Board Meeting Agenda Packet.

The key policy question for the March 20 WQAB letter is what priorities or guardrails to recommend for the two “TBD” county pots—particularly how to define eligible projects, performance metrics, and ongoing monitoring requirements tied to SPET-funded infrastructure and water-quality outcomes—before the BCC finalizes awards and any conditions.