Water standby charge continues despite public outcry and campaign rhetoric
By John Loesing
Acorn Staff Writer

Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD) directors voted last week to continue a seven-year-old standby charge, a controversial tax used to maintain aging pumps and pipes in the 120 square-mile water district.

The 4-2 vote came despite growing sentiment among landowners and LVMWD boardmem-bers that the tax, which generates $680,000 a year, might be unfair and unnecessary.

Property owners with less than one acre pay $10 per parcel under the tax or an average of 83 cents per month. Owners with more than an acre pay $10 per acre. The charge is included not on water bills, but as part of the annual property taxes.

"This is fixed revenue to make repairs," said Glen Peterson, board director. "I think it’s a way to have everybody pay for a little bit of the system."

LVMWD operates more than 325 miles of water lines, 22 storage tanks and 20 pump stations from the western San Fernando Valley to Westlake Village.

Because the recently approved Los Angeles County North Area Plan reduced building densities in many areas, some landowners said they’re paying for the tax without the promise of future development on their property.

"It’s been unfair to landowners," said Brian Boudreau, a spokesman for the Santa Monica Mountains Landowners’ Association.

Ruth Gerson, president of the Recreation and Equestrian Coalition, called the standby charge a "hardship" for property owners and said the tax adds to the cost of developing recreational facilities in the area.

Some landowners said they were unaware of a provision that allows the tax to be deferred interest-free until the time their property is developed.

Citizens for Lower Water Rates, a grassroots organization that backed the election of boardmembers Vern Padgett, Charles Caspary and Glen Longarini, urged the tax be eliminated.

"We want to lower water rates," Longarini said. "This could be a component of that."

Longarini and Padgett voted against the tax, but Caspary joined the majority who approved it. "I’m not comfortable with eliminating this now, but I do want to look at modifying this by the end of the calendar year," Caspary said.

Padgett admonished his fellow boardmembers.

"The three newest members on the board all committed to reducing water rates," Padgett said. "We are simply sidestepping the commitment to the voters who put us here … There is no reason to continue this tax … It was not justified in the first place."

Padgett said LVMWD could find other ways to pay for infrastructure maintenance, but district officials said the taxpayer would still foot the bill.

Of the $1.8 million needed each year to keep LVMWD’s potable water system intact, landowners pay a third of the cost through the standby charge while customers pay for the other two-thirds with regular water billing.

If the standby charge were eliminated the district would have to compensate by raising water rates, officials said.