MONTEREY, Calif. -- Rick Heuer, a board member of the Monterey Peninsula Taxpayers Association, said he brought 11,743 signed protest votes against a proposed water fee to Tuesday's Monterey Peninsula Water Management District public hearing.
Dozens spoke before water district officials at the Hyatt Regency Grand Ballroom, some upset that the new water fee affecting most California American Water customers would be affixed to property parcels and others disgusted with the entire process.
According to state regulations approved under Proposition 218, a majority of affected customers – in this case, 15,255 – would need to send in a signed declaration of their opposition in order to nix the entire proposal. Add to Heuer's number the 3,439 (which includes 800 still under audit) already received by the district, plus any others that were turned in Tuesday night, and it may be close to the threshold.
Now begins the process of counting and verifying the protest votes, declaring any invalid if they are either improperly signed, duplicates, or sent in by non Cal-Am customers.
"I object because it's a tax and they have to go through certain procedures to get a tax and they have not done so," said David Henderson as he dropped off his protest vote.
The district had collected an 8.325% surcharge on Cal Am water bills, which raised roughly $3.7 million and accounted for nearly half of the district's entire budget. But in July 2009, the California Public Utilities Commission ruled that the water management district could no longer collect that fee, so the district must find a replacement source of revenue.
District officials said Tuesday night that the fee would fund costs related to the provision of water, which includes groundwater replenishment and aquifer storage. The proposed fee would be based 30% on meter size and 70% on historical water consumption. Officials stressed it is not a tax, but many ratepayers insisted that whatever it's called, it's still a tax.
"You can't get blood from a turnip and I feel like a turnip being squeezed pretty hard," said Debbie Chagoya, who also turned in her vote. "Everything is taxed."
Many who spoke Tuesday night took issue with the entire process, arguing that instructions on how to send in a protest vote were buried at the end of a long notice that some said looked no different than junk mail.
"They sent out something that was somewhat hidden," said Monterey resident Paul Bruno. "I think it's important that the public get the opportunity to really answer this."
Three spoke in favor of the proposal, including Bill Hood, a former resident who said he ultimately supports the district.
"I believe that it has to play a key role going forward in being a public partner that can publicly own, publicly finance and publicly govern a desal plant," explained Hood, referencing one of the possible solutions for the region's water shortage in the face of state mandated cutbacks on the Carmel River that must be in place by 2017.
Water district officials said they expect the vote tabulation will take a few days. Any decision on the proposed fee was put over until the district's next meeting on June 19, but it may announce a vote count before then.
