This is to give a heads up as to a potential increase in property taxes or water bill depending on how the $250M+ bill sent to us is going to be paid.
A little back ground information. The state water agency, comprised of appointed officials, not elected officials has decided Los Angeles County doesn't recover enough rainfall and work it back into our water system. Fair enough. They came up with a plan that costs the county some $20Billion dollars that will be needed to implement it.
They are using some new AB rule that allows state agencies to circumvent the voters and bill cities and counties direct which in turn leaves them with the nasty business of figuring out how to pay the bill via taxes or fees added to water bills.
According to Gloria Crudgington at this weeks city council meeting the city and city attorney are looking at options to resist this due bill but things don't look promising.
What does this meant to us? The city is left with 2 options to pay this bill for works required under the state water agency plan. A property tax assessment that will add about $2,000 per assessed value of $500,000. Or as another option is to add it as a fee that works out to about $200/mo to our water bill. End result is that state doesn't care how its paid, just that it will be paid and we get to grab our ankles and enjoy the ride.
Several citizens are working with the city to find out what we can do to stop this. As options are known I'll share with you all here. Things like letter writing, calls to representatives and phone banks to get awareness of the problem have all been discussed at this point.
