District renews water tax ‘Standby’ charge now in its 10th year




District renews water tax
‘Standby’ charge now in its 10th year
By Stephanie Bertholdo
bertholdo@theacorn.com

The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District voted last week to continue charging customers an annual parcel tax for their water services.


The $10-per-acre fee charged to landowners pays for the repair and replacement of water system facilities. According to a district report, the tax generates $525,000 per year.


The Las Virgenes potable water delivery system has more than 325 miles of water lines, 22 storage tanks and 20 pump stations from the East San Fernando Valley to Westlake Village.


The board of directors began the tax 10 years ago. It requires landowners with one acre of land or less to pay the water district $10 per parcel. Owners with more than one acre are charged $10 per acre. The fee is not included on the district’s bimonthly water bill, but is added to each resident’s yearly property tax bill.


According to a district report, "The Potable Water Standby Charge provides an additional means for properties without meters to contribute to repair of the system, so it is available and in good operational order when needed, and assures that metered properties are not bearing the full cost for future reliability of the water system."


Not every parcel is taxed, however.


Four categories of deferral exist. Any parcels owned by a federal, state or local government agency are exempt. Any land that has been committed as open space not requiring water is also eligible for deferment.


Category three of the deferral process applies to parcels larger than one acre that are either developed or have potential for development.


The last section specifies that other lands may be exempt at the board’s discretion. These properties do not receive a direct benefit from the standby charge.


Currently, there are 642 deferments within the district’s boundaries; 471 are one acre or larger.


"All property owners can request a deferral," said John Mundy, district general manager.


One example mentioned was owners of a seven-acre property who requested a deferral via letter. Their contiguous parcels contained only one home. Mundy said, however, that since five of the seven parcels used water, only two parcels qualified for a deferment.


Board director Joseph Bowman asked if the tax would apply to property that "clearly can’t be built on." Mundy said yes, and gave land used to grow avocados as an example.


Another money-saving strategy is to combine contiguous parcels into one lot on the assessor’s records. Mundy said that an owner of seven lots in the district now pays just $14 per year after he requested his land be reassessed.


Vacant properties that may in the future benefit from replacements to the potable water system are also charged the $10-per-year fee.



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *