Platteville
March 14, 2000 Western Wisconsin Tech. School
Tuesday 400 N. 6th Street
at 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the Cafeteria
La Crosse
March 15, 2000 Fitchburg Community Center
Wednesday 5510 Lacy Road
at 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the Gymnasium
Fitchburg
March 16, 2000 Public Library
Thursday 32 Sheboygan Street
at 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Fond du Lac
March 20, 2000 Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary
Monday Sanctuary Road
at 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the Auditorium
Green Bay
March 21, 2000 Holiday Inn
Tuesday 4060 S. Shore Drive
at 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the Heisman Room
Rhinelander
March 21, 2000 Badgerland Civic Center
Tuesday 301 Walnut Street
at 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the Ballroom
Spooner
March 22, 2000 UW-Stevens Point
Wednesday 1015 Reserve Street
at 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in Room 210
Stevens Point
March 22, 2000 Northern Great Lakes Visitor Ctr.
Wednesday 288 County Road G
at 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the Auditorium
Ashland
March 27, 2000 River Falls High School
Monday 230 North Ninth Street
at 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the Auditorium
River Falls
March 28, 2000 Waukesha VFW
Tuesday 409 Delafield Street
at 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the Upstairs Hall
Waukesha
Notice is hereby further given that pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, reasonable accommodations, including the provision of information material in an alternative format, will be provided for qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. Please call Carol Holden at (608) 266-0140 with specific information on your request at least 10 days before the date of the scheduled hearing.
Written Comments and Contact Information
Written comments on the proposed rules and Environmental Assessment may be submitted to Carol Holden, DNR Runoff Management Section, P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707 no later than May 5, 2000. Written comments will have the same weight and effect as oral statements presented at the hearings.
Copies of Rules
A copy of the proposed rules [WT-7-00, WT-8-00, WT-9-00, WT-10-00, WT-11-00, WT-12-00, WT-13-00], Environmental Assessment and fiscal estimates be may obtained from Ms. Holden.
Fiscal Estimates
Many of the changes to NR 120 are mandated by statute. These statutorily mandated changes include elimination of new project selection (1997 Wis. Act 27); transfer of rural local assistance grant administration to DATCP (1999 Wis. Act 9); elimination of supplemental cost sharing based on match provided by the local governmental unit (1997 Wis. Act 27); and restrictions on reimbursements that can be made to grantees who exceed the annual expenditure amounts established by the Department (1997 Wis. Act 237). In addition, 1999 Wisconsin Act 9 essentially required the Department to increase its cost share rates to 70% in order to implement agricultural performance standards established under 1997 Wis. Act 27. Under Act 27, at least 70% cost sharing must be made available before the performance standards can be enforced for existing practices and facilities. There is no net fiscal impact related to the cost share changes because the available funding will simply be distributed among fewer grantees. However, the fiscal impact of transferring rural local assistance grant administration to DATCP-including calculating local assistance grant awards, monitoring spending, and issuing grant documents and award payments—represents a savings of 0.25 FTE and $9100 in salary-related savings to the Department ($17.43/hr x 520 hours).
Additionally, there is no net fiscal effect on either state or local government related to the remaining rule changes Moving the administration of urban local assistance and nonpoint source grants for priority watershed grantees to NR 153 will have no net impact. Moving best management practices to NR 15 will have no fiscal impact. Increasing grant periods will have no state fiscal impact as the same amount of local assistance funding will simply be spread out over a longer time period. The impact on local governments of increasing the project period is minimal, requiring that each grantee provide local match for each additional staff year. The changes in cost share rates for economic hardship will not have a significant fiscal impact on either state or local government. Finally, changes in the critical sites notification procedure and establishment of the requirement that cost share funds be used, if sufficient, to cover critical sites will have no additional fiscal impact on state or local governments.
State Impacts - NR 151 performance standards will primarily be implemented through existing programs in NR 216 (Storm Water Discharge Permits) and NR 243 (Animal Waste Management), and also through NR 153 (Runoff Management Grants Program). The Department estimates an increased workload of 10.0 FTE annually related to implementing the NR 151 performance standards, detailed as follows:
Agricultural Performance Standards (Subchapter I of NR 151):
a. Implementing these standards will require approximately 0.5 FTE per region for evaluation, guidance and information and education-or 2.5 FTE statewide. These water resource engineer positions will assist with field investigations, provide guidance to Department and county staff on implementing agricultural performance standards and prohibitions, and conduct outreach efforts to inform and educate landowners and the public on agricultural performance standards and prohibitions. These positions would also provide support to modelling efforts and in-field evaluations designed to determine the effectiveness of agricultural performance standards and prohibitions. This would be an ongoing work effort with approximately 1040 hours per year per region. Salary-related costs associated with these positions equal (1040 hours x $28.36/hr x 5 regions = $147,500).
b. Implementing these standards will also require approximately 0.5 FTE per region for enforcement—or 2.5 FTE statewide. These positions would be water resource management specialists working on enforcement actions associated with implementation of agricultural performance standards for crop producers (performance standards and prohibitions for livestock producers will be handled through ch. NR 243). This position would work with counties in enforcing county ordinances and serve as the lead in enforcement in counties not enacting ordinances. This would be an ongoing work position requiring about 1040 hours annually per region. Salary-related costs associated with these positions equal (1040 hours x $23.29/hr x 5 regions = $121,100).
c. Implementing these standards will also require approximately 0.5 FTE statewide for reviewing ordinances. This water resource management specialist position would most likely be located in the Departments central office, responsible for reviewing local livestock operation ordinances that exceed statewide performance standards and prohibitions. In consultation with the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, this position would be responsible for determining if local ordinances exceeding statewide performance standards and prohibitions are justified based on water quality concerns. Given the number of local governments that can enact ordinances and the fact that local ordinances regarding livestock operations are likely to be dynamic in nature as farming practices and the nature of local communities change, it is expected that this would be an ongoing position requiring about 1040 hours per year. The salary-related costs associated with this position are (1040 hours x $23.29/hr = $24,200).
Non-Agricultural Performance Standards, BMPs and Technical Standards (Subchapters II and IV of NR 151):
a. Implementing these standards will also require a water resource management specialist FTE for developing and revising technical standards for BMPs. This position would be the primary (lead) person working on items such as revising the Wisconsin Construction Site Best Management Practice Handbook and developing an infiltration technical standard. There are over 2080 hours of work to be done on the BMP handbook and infiltration standard and this does not include other technical standards that should be developed. Technical standards revisions will continue to be needed annually in the foreseeable future. The salary-related costs associated with this position are (2080 hours x $23.29/hr = $48,400).
b. Implementing these standards will also require a water resource management engineer FTE for modeling support and developing tools to measure BMP effectiveness. This position would be expected to become an expert at the different runoff models available such as P8 and SLAMM. This position would give support and training to consultants and other Department staff and would be modeling projects to evaluate the effectiveness of BMPs and give recommendations on BMP technical standards development. This is an ongoing position that would require approximately 2080 hours annually. The salary-related costs associated with this position are (2000 hours x $28.36/hr = $59,000).
c. Implementing these standards will also require a 0.50FTE water resource management specialist per region for evaluation, guidance, and information and education—or 2.5 FTE statewide. This position would conduct field investigations to evaluate project implementation and give the general public and private consultants guidance, training, and education on the performance standards, BMPs, and technical standards. This ongoing work will require approximately 1040 hours annually per region. The salary-related costs associated with these positions are (1040 hours x $23.29/hr x 5 regions = $121,100).
Local Fiscal Impacts of Non-agricultural Performance Standards:
Although they are difficult to calculate at this point, the fiscal impacts on local municipalities will result from the developed urban area performance standard in subchapter II of NR 151. The first phase of this performance standard stresses storm water management programs which utilize pollution prevention activities (public education programs, leaf management, street sweeping, storm sewer maintenance, fertilizer and pesticide management, illicit discharge detection and elimination). The performance standard will require a minimum level of performance across the urbanized areas. Many of these pollution prevention activities are low cost or a continuation of existing management practices. However, later phases of the performance standard emphasize and require the use of high efficiency (vacuum) street sweeping and structural treatment devices, such as wet detention ponds to provide additional control of pollution from runoff.
Municipalities which have or are required to obtain an NR 216 municipal storm water permit are already required to meet all or a majority of these performance standards. Therefore, there may be no—or minimal—additional costs necessary to meet the performance standard. However, the performance standard will be applied more broadly than solely to facilities for which an NR 216 permit is required. Any urbanized area with a population density of 1000 persons per square mile will have to comply with the developed urban area performance standard.
Again, most of the performance standards are low cost. However, street sweeping requirements may add costs of, for example, $150,000 for a street sweeping unit. Municipalities may, however, already have street sweeping units or share them with neighboring municipalities, or they may lease them from private firms. Municipalities will be given until at least the year 2008 to replace existing sweepers with high efficiency models. Structural devices and street sweeper purchases will be eligible for up to a 50% grant reimbursement through the urban nonpoint source and storm water projects program in subchapter II of ch. NR 153. It is unknown if there will be adequate grant funding available to meet the demand for purchasing street sweepers and designing and installing treatment devices.
Additionally, municipalities may determine that in order to meet the performance standards, structural practices such as wet detention ponds are necessary. Structural treatment devices can be quite expensive, but the municipality would be in control of selecting what combination of treatment devices to implement to meet any performance standard. Further, the need for structural treatment devices varies greatly. Additionally, urban structural best management practices are eligible for Clean Water Fund bonding and urban nonpoint cost-sharing dollars provided by 1999 Wisc. Act 9. Therefore, the costs tc governments associated with implementing the developed urban area performance standards are difficult to calculate at this point.
Local Impacts of Agricultural Performance Standards and Prohibitions:
There is no expected fiscal impact to local units of government. State legislation authorizing the creation of statewide performance standards and prohibitions also provided funding for staff in each county to facilitate passage of county ordinances implementing the performance standards and prohibitions Although towns villages, cities, etc. , can also enact ordinances, no funding was provided for this. However enacting of ordinances at this level is permissive and is not required by NR 151.
NR 152 has no significant fiscal impact on either state or local governments. The only state fiscal impact is that associated with printing, distribution and information/education activity attendant to distributing the ordinances. It is anticipated that this can be done as part of the workload identified in the fiscal estimate for NR 153. There is no impact to local units of government, as adoption of the ordinance is not required by this rule.
The Department anticipates increased workload totaling 6.0 FTE and increased annual costs of $226,900 associated with implementing NR 153. The Department expects any local fiscal impacts to be minimal-if any-because the Department will maximize consistency between the administrative requirements of subchapters land II and between chapters NR 153 and NR 120. The Department has also assured grantees that existing priority watershed grant commitments created under chapter NR 120, and that will now be administered under chapter NR 153, will be given top priority in the scoring system so that the Department can honor those commitments and the local governments can rely on the funding promised in the past.
There are significant added administrative costs to the Department related to implementing chapter NR 153 as opposed to administering the former nonpoint source water pollution abatement program. While some economies of scale can be realized for the urban nonpoint pollution abatement program, new grantees will apply for funds. It requires much more time to initiate grants than to renew them (as with the priority watershed program) as applicants are unfamiliar with the grant process. A great deal of extra time is spent answering questions and corresponding with potential grantees while evaluating a new project. In addition, the targeted program no longer limits grant availability to priority watersheds. This means that an increasing number of requests will be received from areas without comprehensive watershed planning, which will be much more difficult to evaluate as baseline data and pollution control guidelines will not be in place. Further, the new program will involve many small grants of short duration (1-4 years) as opposed to the relatively few priority watershed grants lasting 10-12 years. Each of these smaller grants entails the same complement of administrative services as the larger grants, resulting in a greatly increased workload. In summary, there will be more grants, turning over in one-third the time, each requiring the same administrative services as priority watershed grants.
In order to administer the selection process, prepare and administer the grants, and provide the technical support that applicants will need in all phases of project application, implementation and evaluation, additional Departmental effort will be required. It is anticipated that the Department will need additional services from the following 6.0 FTE positions at annual salary-related costs totaling $226,900.
-1 Natural Resources Financial Assistance Specialist to serve as a grant manager in the Bureau of Community Financial Assistance ($17.43 x 2080 hours = $36,354).
-1Program and Planning Analyst (PPA -3) to serve as a Central Office coordinator with municipalities and DNR regions for storm water and urban nonpoint pollution abatement. This coordination work would extend to cover municipal flood control and riparian restoration programs when additional rules are drafted to implement s. 281.665, Stats. ($18.86 x 2080 = $38,229).
-1Program and Planning Analyst (PPA -3) (DNR Region) to assist in planning, developing, and coordinating storm water and urban nonpoint pollution abatement in the northeast region. This coordination work would extend to cover municipal flood control and riparian restoration programs when rules are drafted to implement s. 281.665, Stats ($18.86 x 2080 = $38,229).
-3 Water Resources Management Specialists located in the northeast, west central and northern regions to provide technical assistance in all aspects of application development, project implementation and evaluation ($18.28 x 2080 hours x 3 = $114,067).
Although there may be fiscal impacts associated with implementing the proposed changes to NR 120, NR 151, and NR 243 (see related fiscal notes), there are no fiscal impacts to state or local government directly related to NR 154.
There will not be any additional financial costs to either state or local governments to implement the proposed changes to NR 216, except those costs associated with meeting the performance standards of ch. NR 151. Since the additional fiscal impacts to state or local governments are due to implementation of ch. NR 151, the changes proposed to ch. NR 216 are assumed to have no cost to state or local governments. The frequency of reviewing erosion and sediment control plans and storm water management plans will continue at the same frequency. There will be no additional time spent on reviewing plans that will now be required to meet the performance standards under ch. NR 151.
Note: See the fiscal estimate for ch. NR 151 for the fiscal effects of implementing the performance standards of ch. NR 151.
The Department estimates that implementing the changes to NR 243 will increase the Department's workload by 0.8 FTE and $27,500 in salary-related costs. This increase is the result of a shift in responsibility for administration of cost-share grants from DATCP to DNR for NODS as mandated by 1999 Wisconsin Act 9. The Department has historically been responsible for ensuring NOD compliance. In addition to ensuring compliance, the Department will now also administer grants, develop and maintain policies and procedures, and perform all necessary fiscal management functions. The Department assumes that these duties will be performed by an FTE at a Program & Planning Analyst-3 classification. DATCP staff currently handle the workload associated with cost-share grant administration for NODs and estimates that its decrease in staff workload (and therefore the DNR's increase) associated with the transfer to be 7% of 10 grant management and policy FTEs and 10% of 1 fiscal management FTE, or a total of 1456 hours. The salary-related costs associated with the Department's workload increase are ($18.86/hr x 1456 hours = $27,500).
The Department anticipates no fiscal impact on local governments.
