Losing water agencies shouldn’t go crying to the legislature to get what they want | Opinion
Somewhere in California, two small water districts propose to leave a big agency that has long provided the water for another that can provide the very same supply. They agree to hire an outside expert to help a county commission find a fair financial solution.
The expert recommends an exit fee of sorts if the water districts want to leave. The commission goes along with the expert. And now the big agency has come to Sacramento looking to abuse the state legislative process in order to undo a perfectly legal local decision.
These water districts all happen to be in San Diego County. But this is an abuse of power that can happen anywhere if the Legislature gets into a dangerous habit of changing local decisions about boundaries and governance simply because a powerful government in town wants a different outcome.
Opinion
What we have here is a water dispute that should stay in San Diego County. Two water agencies that serve communities in northern San Diego County, the Rainbow Water District and Fallbrook Public Utility District, want a different water future. We want to leave the San Diego County Water Authority and join a neighboring agency, the Eastern Municipal Utility District.
Why? Both agencies receive the same imported supplies via the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California from the very same distribution facilities. In the far northern end of the Water Authority service area, we have no physical access to the authority’s reservoir system or its desalinated supply.
Switching to Eastern has two big potential appeals: Eastern’s supply will be less expensive in the long run given its long history as a well-run district, and we have long felt that the leadership of the Water Authority, dominated by the City of San Diego, does not listen to us or care about us. Meanwhile, their decisions have made our water among the most expensive in the state.
Changing government boundaries is the job of a local county agency formation commission, which exists within every California county. Over three years ago, Rainbow and Fallbrook applied to the San Diego Agency Formation Commission (SDLAFCO) for the boundary shift.
But the Water Authority has demanded exorbitant exit charges from us. We have contended that little to no charge is appropriate. The commission voted to approve the switch last month, subject to a sizable exit fee (less than the authority’s proposal) to offset the financial impacts as calculated by SDLAFCO’s outside expert.
Unwilling to accept a compromise, the city of San Diego and the Water Authority has turned to Sacramento to undo the results of the local process.
Assembly Bill 399 by Tasha Boerner, D-Encinitas, seeks to strip the local agency formation commission of its decision-making power. Instead, it proposes an election among the 3.3 million residents who are eligible voters in the entire Water Authority service area. With the vast majority of the county’s population, San Diego voters could overwhelm the smaller rural areas, making such a boundary election a nearly impossible hurdle.
The current legal system has long required a public vote of those within the boundaries of the agencies that may shift. They face the risks and benefits of the decision. The local LAFCO ruling frames the factual background for that decision. This is a tried-and-true process that is not broken.
AB 399 makes it open season on local boundary decision-making. LAFCOs in every county are the watchdogs, the “adults in the room,” to sort out thorny issues and adjust boundaries and services so that government is as efficient as it can be. That is why the statewide organization representing these commissions is opposing this bill.
Key votes are pending in the state senate. Legislators must oppose AB 399 and send a clear message to agencies like the City of San Diego and SDCWA: Play fair, play by the rules. And if you lose, don’t go crying to the Legislature.
Tom Kennedy is the general manager of the Rainbow Municipal Water District. Jack Bebee is the general manager of the Fallbrook Public Utility District.
