A San Martin well owner used a legal judo maneuver to defeat the
water district with their own argument in a small claims case
regarding the agency’s groundwater charges.
A San Martin well owner used a legal judo maneuver to defeat the water district with their own argument in a small claims case regarding the agency’s groundwater charges.
Steve Coney, an Intel Corp. retiree, exited the South County Courthouse Thursday morning with a judgment that says he doesn’t have to pay about $2,700 invoiced to him by the Santa Clara Valley Water District, and the district has to pay him nearly $7,000 in past charges and court fees.
He said he won the claim based on the water district’s own admission that state laws requiring voter approval for property related fees such as groundwater charges apply only to well owners like himself that pump water for their own use, and not to private companies who resell it such as Great Oaks Water Co. who won a $5 million judgment against SCVWD last year.
“This is definitely a precedent setter. What they did was wrong, and I just stood up for what was right,” Coney said after court Thursday.
The water district sued Coney last year, for not paying about $2,700 groundwater charges since 2008. His refusal to pay was based on a Santa Clara County Superior Court ruling in 2009, filed by water resale company Great Oaks. The judge in that case said in part that the groundwater charges are illegal because they are in violation of Proposition 218, a state law that requires voter approval for such fees.
The water district never secured voter approval for the groundwater charges they have imposed on well owners in Santa Clara County since the law was enacted in 1996, the ruling said.
The water district plans to appeal the small-claims decision in Coney’s case, spokeswoman Meenakshi Ganjoo said.
“We respectfully disagree with the commissioner’s decision and will recommend to our board that this decision be appealed,” Ganjoo said in an e-mail. “These issues are already pending before the 6th District California Court of Appeals and we look forward to their prompt resolution.”
Coney argued in a previous hearing in his case that because the court already ruled that the charges are illegal, he does not have to pay up. The district is also appealing the Great Oaks decision, and small claims court Commissioner Gregory Saldivar said he could not rule on Coney’s case until the Great Oaks matter is settled.
However, Coney presented new evidence at Thursday’s follow-up hearing, which Saldivar accepted, Coney said. That evidence was an official statement from the water district, published in Feb. 2010, that said Prop 218 only applies to well owners who pump water from the ground strictly for use on their own property.
Coney pumps about nine acre feet of water from his San Martin property annually. An acre foot is enough water to supply a family of five for one year.
As a result, Saldivar denied the water district’s claim for $2,700 in unpaid groundwater charges, and awarded Coney his claim for $6,715 in charges he paid from 2002-2008, plus court fees, he said.
Coney, who has no legal background, said the ruling means other well owners who use groundwater for their own purposes have a strong argument for a refund. “All they have to do is say, ‘Prop 218,’ and the judge will rule in their favor,” Coney said.
The water district was ordered to reimburse Great Oaks about $5 million in groundwater charges it paid to the public agency in 2005, and a decision on the water district’s appeal is not expected until next year.
Last year for the first time, the district held a protest procedure in compliance with Prop 218. About 430 legitimate protest letters were submitted. A simple majority vote of 3,644 well owners in South County was needed to eliminate the bi-annual fee.
The SCVWD provides wholesale water for about 1.8 million Santa Clara County residents and has an annual budget of about $305 million.
