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RVSD
Ross Valley Sanitary District to raise taxes, again.
The Ross Valley Sanitary District meets tonight with the public meeting starting at 7 PM, District Office, 2960 Kerner Blvd, San Rafael.
There are 58 counties in California and Marin County has the highest tax rates of all.
Item # 9 is the annual budget, a 70% increase in expenditures over last year. The 2015-16 fiscal year Draft Budget was presented to the Board on April 22, 2015. A number of questions were asked but no vote was ever taken or direction given as the board president was in a hurry to move on.
Then at the meeting of May 20, 2015, Item # 9 was Consideration of Approving Public Notice the FY 15-16 Wastewater Utility Service Rates. The notice was mailed out without a hearing date for the rate increases.
Tonight is the budget hearing. The rate increase hearing evidently will be in July. Special districts use the Prop 218 tax increase loophole to continually raise taxes and a Prop 218 tax increase is generally impossible to stop. A very rare exception was the recent Marin-Sonoma Mosquito & Vector Control District 59% tax increase which lost with no organized opposition.
How about a 2015-16 budget where expenditures are increased 70% over last year? 2014-15 expenditures were $25,006,309 and proposed for 2015-16 is $42,626,875.
The big winners, consultants & contractors. The budget Includes a revised 6 year capital improvement expenditure of $127,784,400. To date we have sold $17.9 million and $30 million dollars in bonds and currently have debt of $81,157,273.
This budget calls for somehow funding an additional $97,000,000 worth of capital improvements with either more bonds or taxes or both over the next 6 years. If it is all done with new bonds there will be additional $67,000,000 in interest, an additional debt load of $164,000,000 on top of the current debt of $81,157,273 for a staggering $245,157,273 in debt. Who's paying for this? How are we paying for it? What is the RVSD's bonding capacity?
The budget refers to the loss of 10% of our revenue since we are no longer providing the San Quentin Peninsula with wastewater services. Perhaps staff and the board majority should have thought about that before they dropped a winning lawsuit.
RVSD counsel believes last year's 4-1 vote approving the 5 year rate increases cannot be changed. Ross Valley rates go up $216 (to $909) and Larkspur rates go up $217 (to $1,178) over the five years not counting the latest bombshell to hit RVSD, the need to spend millions more as a result of the large diameter pipe study just completed.
RVSD is using 20th century solutions to solve 21st century wastewater problems. We should be reducing wastewater flows not building additional capacity.
Two RVSD directors have said RVSD has been overcharging San Quentin State Prison for years, one saying for 30 years. RVSD charges all customers using the same formula, strength (commercial/industrial/government) and flow. If we have been overcharging San Quentin State Prison, then we have been overcharging all of our governmental agencies like COM, MGH, the cities and towns, schools and special districts. If the majority of directors believe customers should be charged based on proximity to the CMSA treatment plant, then Larkspur Landing and Greenbrae residents and businesses should get a huge discount.
Public participation is important and I urge Ross Valley ratepayers to stay on top of these issues.
Frank Egger
RVSD Director