California’s Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024 (Proposition 4) creates new funding opportunities for agencies working to strengthen their water infrastructure and build more resilient communities. Yet, the bond is divided among many programs, and demand is likely to exceed the money available. For agencies considering stormwater, recycled water, and broader water resources projects, success will depend on more than identifying an open grant program.
It begins with asking the right questions. Does the project align with the program’s priorities? How will it perform against the scoring criteria? Is it developed enough to compete? Most importantly, is pursuing the opportunity a strategic use of the agency’s time and resources?
Woodard & Curran’s Fiscal Solutions team helps clients answer those questions before they commit to a grant application.
Looking Beyond the Size of the Bond
Proposition 4 authorized $10 billion for climate-related investments, including approximately $3.8 billion for water-related projects. For stormwater projects, there is only $110 million available, underscoring the need for agencies to carefully evaluate opportunities.
Early experience with Proposition 4 programs illustrates the competitive landscape. One recent program had $46 million in grants available, but received concept proposals that totaled $810 million. This highlights the demand for funding and the value of a realistic funding strategy. By helping our clients understand this landscape, we become a partner in identifying competitive projects or ways to strengthen proposals to align with the funding opportunity.
Starting with project competitiveness
Woodard & Curran starts by reviewing a client’s proposed projects to examine how they correspond with a funding program’s stated priorities and assess the potential competitiveness. One of the current grant programs under Proposition 4 that our clients may qualify for focuses on stormwater projects. Our funding experts have translated the program’s draft scoring rubric in a format that allows us to vet proposed projects and estimate how each might score. This provides decision-makers with a clearer foundation for determining whether to pursue a grant now, strengthen the project first, or consider another funding path.
Connecting individual opportunities to a broader fiscal strategy
A competitive project is only one part of the equation. Agencies must also consider how a grant opportunity fits within their capital improvement program, project portfolio, and long-term financial priorities. A grant may support part of a project, but it rarely replaces the need for a broader funding strategy.
Building on our master planning expertise, we work with clients to explore how Proposition 4 grants can work alongside other funding sources to advance priority stormwater, recycled water, and water resources projects. This is an exercise we’ve done for single high-priority projects or in developing a larger fiscal strategy aligned with a master plan or capital improvement program. We have found this approach helps our clients pursue funding with purpose and establish a clear path for financing projects overtime. A sound strategy also improves the competitiveness of a project when pursuing funding opportunities.
Bringing long-term insight on Proposition 4 decisions
With the goal of being a strategic partner for our clients, we have followed Proposition 4 from its development in the California Legislature through voter approval and the rollout of individual funding programs. In fact, for all funding opportunities, we track funding categories, allocations, state budget activity, program guidelines, and anticipated timing to help clients understand both current opportunities and what may be ahead.
That history provides context when supporting our clients. It allows us to help clients distinguish between broad funding announcements and the amounts likely to reach a specific program. It also supports conversations about when an agency should act, when it may have time to improve project readiness, and how emerging guidelines could shape future decisions. While we await more information for other water-related Proposition 4 programs, our review of the stormwater program has us ready to support clients who have stormwater projects in the queue and provides a basis for how we approach additional Proposition 4 funding programs for groundwater and watershed resilience programs.
A fiscal partner from planning through execution
Woodard & Curran is proud to offer consulting services from concept through operations for our clients. This extends beyond project work by integrating our Fiscal Solutions experts into the process. As a strategic partner, we don’t just help with grant applications. We assess projects based on competitiveness, propose ways to better position projects for grant opportunities, support the application process, and stay with our clients through grant administration to ensure they remain in compliance with grant requirements.
