Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 8, 2007
5. Agencies, Programs, People
FUNDING FOR LOCAL PROJECTS:
County to hire lobbyists to fatten flood control purse - Napa Valley Register
Proposal to raise SLO water rates prompts protest; About 10,000 postcards are mailed to residents to request opposition - San Luis Obispo Tribune
FUNDING FOR LOCAL PROJECTS:
County to hire lobbyists to fatten flood control purse
By Kevin Courtney, staff writer
Maintaining that you have to spend money to get money, the Napa County Flood Control District will pay lobbyists $258,000 next year to sway lawmakers in
Spending a quarter of a million dollars for access to state and federal governments may seem high, but the district doesn’t have any choice if it wants to keep the Napa flood project moving, said Heather Stanton, local project manager.
“There isn’t another major project that doesn’t employ a lobbyist. We have to be there,”
The district voted this week to renew contracts with The Gualco Group in
Much greater sums of money are at stake to keep the flood project from falling further behind schedule,
The Gualco Group will help the district obtain nearly $24 million in state reimbursement for local flood expenses, she said. The Carmen Group will be trying to pry millions more from Congress and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build flood defenses in and around downtown, she said.
In
“These folks have the ability to wind through all the machinations in
Although federal funding has lagged,
The Corps of Engineers will need even larger appropriations in coming years if the flood project is to wrap up by its new target date, 2015,
In
Napa Mayor Jill Techel, who chairs the flood board, said lobbyists set up meetings with key legislators, staff members and administration officials when locals make lobbying trips.
Without lobbyists, “you are risking your project not getting the money it needs,” Techel said.
Techel agreed that $258,000 is a lot of money. “It’s a chunk of money, but it brings back millions and millions for this project,” she said.
“They know staffers, they know the process, they know other funding sources,” Techel said of lobbyists.
While federal funding is always an uncertainty, the local half-cent flood control tax, which pays for right of way acquisition, will be adequate next year,
The flood tax is expected to bring in $13.2 million. #
http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2007/06/08/news/local/doc4668f68677b68791936948.txt
Proposal to raise SLO water rates prompts protest; About 10,000 postcards are mailed to residents to request opposition
San Luis Obispo
By Sally Connell, staff writer
One man’s protest against
The mailing by truck driver and unsuccessful City Council candidate Terry Mohan states his opposition to the rate increases and asks voters in
Under state law, if 50 percent plus one of the city’s 14,400 or so water ratepayers protest, they could halt the increases and force the City Council to take another action.
The council is to adopt the 13 percent increase that will raise water rates for an average household in the city to $42 a month from $37. A majority of the council is expected to approve that increase June 19, and it could go into effect July 1.
Most city officials hope Mohan’s protest will not gain traction and the rate increases will go forward. City Utilities Director John Moss anticipates another 13 percent increase in water rates next year, and rates are expected to almost double between now and 2012 and then level off.
The biggest portion of the rate increases is in anticipation of paying for the city’s share of the 45-mile-long
The project is out to bid. Officials are hoping that it does not exceed the $180 million to $190 million estimates for construction. Five agencies are taking part: San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, Templeton Community Services District, Atascadero Mutual Water Co., and County Service Area 10a, serving Cayucos.
The city of
Mohan believes there is enough water for current
“The only people who need this water is new development,” Mohan said. “They are the ones who should be paying for it. I don’t care if they build the pipeline; I don’t think the people here should pay for it.”
He said he has no issue with reasonable rate increases to serve the current water plant and other infrastructure.
But city officials say the Nacimiento project is a key to the city’s future water supply. And Moss said Mohan is mistaken in his belief that there is enough water now for the city of 44,000.
The city has two primary sources of water, the Salinas Reservoir and Whale Rock Reservoir near Cayucos. Whale Rock Reservoir was finished in 1962.
“I will be disappointed if it gets overturned,” Moss said. “We can’t stop looking for more water.”
City Councilman Allen Settle said he remembers the long drought that led to the city’s water rationing in the 1980s. The city has added no new sources of water since then beyond a recent project to use recycled water for landscaping.
“I prefer to have managed growth with reliable resources,” he said, “to a crisis management situation where we have to tell the voters, ‘You are going to be restricted on water consumption.’ ”
Settle worries that Mohan’s campaign will appeal to some people for the wrong reasons.
“Nobody wants to pay more for anything right now —gas, utilities; I can understand that,” Settle said. “I would urge the people here to recognize the last thing you want to run out of is water.”
City Attorney Jonathan Lowell determined that returning the signed card with a utility bill number would serve as a legal, official protest.
Under guidelines allowed in California Proposition 218, if 50 percent plus one of those who pay a fee or rate oppose an increase, it cannot be approved as planned. The issue could then go to a larger vote, or the city could revise its proposal and hold a new public hearing similar to the one it held May 31. #
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