DEPARTMENT: City Manager's Office
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Ben Gorzell, Chief Financial Officer
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED:
SUBJECT: Authorizing the Continuation of the Edwards Aquifer Protection Program through the Execution of a Programmatic and Financing Agreement between the City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Municipal Facilities Corporation.
SUMMARY: This Ordinance will authorize the continuation of the Edwards Aquifer Protection Program (EAPP) through the execution of a Programmatic and Financing Agreement between the City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Municipal Facilities Corporation. The City will contract with the Corporation to carry out the EAPP on the City's behalf and the City will commit and authorize the transfer of certain lawfully available revenues to finance the costs of the EAPP. The Ordinance would also approve the Corporation's issuance and incurrence of debt to fund the Program.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The Edwards Aquifer provides San Antonio with an abundant and vital source of groundwater. It stretches across thousands of acres over several counties in South Central Texas. Roughly 70 percent of San Antonio's water originates as recharge from counties located west of Bexar County. Rainfall enters the Edwards Aquifer through fractures, caves, sinkholes and other features and replenishes the Aquifer. However, rapid growth and development over the recharge and contributing zones of the Aquifer adversely impact it by reducing the number of recharge features able to maintain San Antonio's primary water resource.
In May 2000, San Antonio voters approved a proposition which initiated the Edwards Aquifer Protection Program (EAPP) with funding from a portion of a 1/8-cent venue sales tax. The EAPP protects the Edwards Aquifer through the acquisition of property rights including fee simple purchases, conservation easements, and donations of land over the sensitive zones of the Aquifer. Perpetual conservation easements benefit San...
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