Dear Acequia Community,

The New Mexico Acequia Association (NMAA) encourages all acequias seeking funding support to prepare early for upcoming applications to the Acequia and Community Ditch Infrastructure Fund (ACDIF) and Capital Outlay (CO). These funding sources provide vital opportunities for acequias to repair and improve infrastructure, secure water delivery systems, and build long-term resilience for our communities. We also want to urge ALL acequias to register for the new CAPS system that replaces the ICIP portal and CPMS system (see more below).

Acequias are strongly encouraged to complete an ICIP - Infrastructure and Capital Improvement Plan annually (usually in June) in the new  CAPS system. These plans are not funding applications but demonstrate to the state an acequia’s project and readiness to proceed. 

To be competitive for either of these programs, acequias must have their governance, financial compliance, and project documents in good order before applying.

• Updated bylaws (since 2003)
• Employer Identification Number (EIN) # for the acequia
• Consistency of acequia name across bylaws, bank accounts, and all official documents
• Three duly elected Commissioners

• Compliance with the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) through the required tiered system of reporting. Depending on the size of your acequia’s budget, this may mean filing an annual tier certification or an agreed-upon procedures (AUP) report. Without this compliance, your acequia may not be eligible for state funding.
• Compliance with the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA), including quarterly budget reporting when applicable (only if annual revenue is over $50k).
• An active bank account in the name of the acequia that matches your bylaws and created using an Employer Identification Number (EIN). This account is necessary for receiving funds from state programs. Bank accounts that are inactive, closed, or in a different name than your acequia may cause ineligibility for funding or significant delays or loss of funding.

• For ACDIF: A resolution of willingness to proceed, signed by all three commissioners at a duly noticed meeting of the commission. Following your bylaws for proper notice and meeting procedures is essential.
• For Capital Outlay: a project should have been discussed at an annual meeting to ensure people understand the positive impact and implications of the project, as well as any financial responsibilities.

• For ACDIF design funding: An engineering services proposal.
• For ACDIF construction funding: An engineer-stamped design and oversight proposal.
• Easement agreements for lands accessed or impacted by the project.
• Required permits if the project crosses state, federal, or tribal lands.
• For CO you should at least have an engineers or contractors estimate on the specific project.

• A recent copy of your acequia’s bank statement to confirm an active account.
• A letter confirming OSA and DFA financial compliance.
• Proof of additional funding sources if applicable.
• Confirmation that any NMISC loan is in good standing if your acequia has one.
  
  

Preparing these materials takes time, especially scheduling meetings, securing engineering documents, and confirming financial compliance. NMAA strongly encourages acequias to begin gathering documents early so that applications are complete and competitive well before deadlines.

NMAA will be hosting workshops to guide acequias through the ACDIF and Capital Outlay application process. These workshops will include tips on preparing resolutions, ensuring financial compliance, and submitting strong applications.

• Begin early, be aware that financial compliance,  banking updates, planning a project with an engineer can often take weeks or months.
• Ensure community buy-in, get feedback on infrastructure needs and implications, share regular updates about the process with parciantes at annual meetings and with a resolution. 
• Consider unintended consequences, ecological impacts and alternative strategies when evaluating your infrastructure options.
• Especially if considering piping or lining, look at aquifer recharge, wells, trees, benefit of native habitat that may be impacted
• Interview your engineers. You have choices. Explain to engineers your ideas and concerns and get multiple options to select the option that is the best fit for your community and context
• Confirm with OSA that your acequia’s reporting is up to date (See handout for more details).
• Schedule a commission meeting well ahead of deadlines to approve your resolution.
• Reach out to NMAA for technical assistance and one-on-one support.

All acequias need to register for CAPS - Capital Appropriations Project System ASAP

• The CAPS system replaces and integrates the ICIP portal and the CPMS system
• Every email associated with an acequia in the previous ICIP and CPMS reporting systems should have received an email with a prompt to create your user name and password - if you did not simply go to https://platform.dfa.nm.gov/request-access.html and complete this form. (Training team informed access should be completed within 24 hours). 
  • Once an acequia leader has access they can delegate other users
  • You can learn more about the CAPS system: 
    • Click here for the recorded training
      • (go to # 6 CAPS)
    • Click here to review the slides

• Any acequia with a contract in place for a Capital Outlay Awards has an extended deadline of October 17th to meet their quarterly reporting requirement for the period of (July 1-  September 30).
• Any acequia that has a current ICIP needs to log into the system and ensure all their data translated properly ASAP (before the end of October) so that the data is ready to outpopulate a Capital Outlay request form properly - NMAA is available to assist
• Any acequia that would like to enter (start or update a project) an ICIP this coming year needs to log into the new system as soon as possible
• New fields have been added to the ICIP that will need to be completed/submitted in the new system. All ICIPs from the old system were transferred to “draft” status. To get a “submitted” status, you will need to go in, verify the transferred information by clicking on the edit button next to each of your projects.  Update all 6 items and check the small box “this section is complete”  and press the save information button  as you advance through each item. 

• We want to see ALL ACEQUIAS in the CAPS system by December at the latest

• Please note that the new system is still being worked out and you may encounter various issues.
• The Training team advises that there have been some issues with project names and in some instances projects being transferred from ICIP to CAPS. Acequias are encouraged to add any missing projects. The name of the projects will be updated soon.
• Login will require multifactor authentication. The user can select from a text or an email to prompt the system to send a code. Forgotten login credentials can be done from the CAPS login page.
• Any and all technical login issues should go to Realtime Solutions at  support@rtsolutions.com 

The NMAA Infrastructure Team, including Alyssa Ortiz and Serafina Lombardi, are here to walk alongside your acequia in this process. Please email alyssa@lasacequias.org and serafina@lasacequias.org or call 505-995-9644 for support with applications or compliance questions.

In solidarity,

Vidal, Serafina, and the NMAA Infrastructure Team

www.lasacequias.org

(505) 995-9644