The Santa Clara Valley Water District collected 474 envelopes
for the protest of groundwater charges that began Feb. 26. The
count began Wednesday and will continue through today or until all
protests have been tallied. A decision could come as early as
Monday.
The Santa Clara Valley Water District collected 474 envelopes for the protest of groundwater charges that began Feb. 26. The count began Wednesday and will continue through today or until all protests have been tallied. A decision could come as early as Monday.
Well owners were given the opportunity to protest the groundwater fees at the rate of $275 per acre foot of municipal and industrial use and $16.50 per acre foot of agricultural use. Multiple protests could be inside one envelope, yet it’s unlikely the needed 1,823 protests have been submitted.
If a majority plus-one vote is successful, groundwater fees would be eliminated for the next year.
Water board clerk Michele King started tabulating the protest letters Wednesday morning at the water district headquarters. At the board meeting Tuesday, King described the process that is divided into 11 steps. She said each letter will take about six to 10 minutes to verify.
The initial protest evaluation – step three of 11 – requires that these questions have been answered.
-Did it arrive between Feb. 26 and April 27?
-Does the envelope have an address of assessor’s parcel number?
-Did it arrive via mail or in person in a sealed envelope?
-Is protest signed with an original signature?
A Certified Public Accountant will validate the tallying by King and in an agreement between the water district and C.G. Uhlenberg LLP based in Redwood City, the CPA firm will charge $100 an hour over a three-day period.
Six categories will distinguish each well owners’ vote: Zone W2 (North County) valid, Zone W5 (South County) valid, invalid, rescind, research and legal evaluation.
A simple majority vote of 3,644 well owners in South County is needed for the monthly fee to be eliminated beginning in July. The water district said it will lose almost $14 million for South County if the protest is deemed successful – $6 million of which will come from a perchlorate surcharge over two years. That funding is regulated to replenish the groundwater basin, water recycling, water conservation and environmental projects.
The ability to protest stems from a decision by Superior Court Judge Kevin Murphy in November that said the district was illegally collecting groundwater fees, which are supposed to be put to a yearly vote by well owners under Proposition 218 and the Santa Clara Valley Water District Act. Murphy determined that the water district had to refund San Jose-based Great Oaks Water Co., which sued the district, more than $4.6 million – a year’s worth of illegally collected groundwater charges – after determining Great Oaks was overcharged in 2005-06.
Proposition 218 requires the district to send out notices outlining the protest process. Although, many well owners have claimed they never received a letter or threw their letter away because the “ballot” information was buried on the fourth page of a letter littered with “no-rate increase” praise.
“The method of this process was perfectly designed for people to not read it,” said South County resident Randy Scianna, who held up the four-page letter when he spoke Tuesday at the meeting. “This is perfect if you don’t want any response.” He added that whether it was done intentionally or not, “if you’re trying to be transparent, this is deceptive.”
The district is loyal to its $275 and $16.50 charges: since 20008, groundwater rates will remain the same.
The water district provides water supply and flood protection to the county’s 1.8 million people. The agency employs about 750 people has a budget of about $305 million.
