The 2022 Delta Plan was introduced at the October 5, 2022 Council meeting and a public comment period was approved to solicit comments on this plan.
Delta Plan Public Comments (consolidated)
The 2022 Delta Plan and public comments will be reviewed by the PAC and the Trustee Council at their next meetings (see Events page for updates).
The public comment period was open for 32 days from October 7, 2022 until Monday, November 7 11:59 pm AST.
Due to factors including the restrictions set forth in Public Law 106-113 on the subaccounts and the recent decline in the stock market, the research funds are predicted to be insufficient to support projects past FY25 (see FY23-FY33 spending scenario as of 9.14.22).
Funding past FY27 is uncertain. Annual funding is always dependent on the net asset values of the subaccounts.
The Delta Plan offers several alternatives to fund all multi-year projects supported by the Research Subaccount for as long as possible.
Projects currently supported by the Research Subaccount include:
Projects currently supported by the Habitat Subaccount include:
The Delta Plan can be downloaded for review here.
Components of previously approved projects totaling $13,576,960 will be funded from the Habitat Subaccount instead of the Research Subaccount, including reallocating associated funds awarded in FY22, as follows:
Due to limitations in federal law on expenditures from the Habitat Subaccount, implementing Alternative Orange can be done one of the three ways:
A) Seek Congressional authorization to fund project components from the Habitat Subaccount or remove the condition in PL 106-113 that the funds be allocated and managed in separate subaccounts.
This option would allow the settlement funds to continue to generate income in the ADOR investment account.
B) Move all the funds in the Habitat and Research Subaccounts out of the ADOR investment account and into the NRDAR Fund.
C) Move all the funds in the Habitat and Research Subaccounts out of the ADOR investment account and into the court registry.
Options B and C would not require further legislation and offer greater flexibility, but the funds may have a lower potential of generating income.
This alternative does not require a legislative amendment to combine the Habitat and Research subaccounts or moving the funds out of the ADOR investment account. Funding decisions made at the Council's October 2021 and January 2022 will be revisited in collaboration with the public and the PAC in order to reduce funding awards from the Research Subaccount. New funding awards previously recommended by the PAC at its September 2021 meeting may be made from the Habitat Subaccount.
Funds in the Habitat Subaccount are predicted to be in excess of $26,000,000 by the end of FY31 (see FY23-FY33 spending scenario as of 9.14.22).
Funds from the Research Subaccount are predicted to be insufficient to support projects reliant on this funding past FY25.
This alternative will require selecting one of the options to implement Alternative Orange and allow the reallocation of Habitat Subaccount funds to support project components through FY26. This alternative further proposes to engage the public in revisiting funding decisions made in FY21, as described in Alternative Purple, to maximize the number of previously approved projects that can be fully funded from the funds remaining in both the Research and Habitat Subaccounts.
The goal of Alternative Green is to ensure available funds for as many projects as possible through FY31 or whenever projected funds are exhausted.
