For the first time in more than two decades, Byron-Bethany Irrigation District’s (BBID) Board of Directors voted in May to more than triple its water rates to the District’s uniform, agricultural water rate.
Beginning June 1, the Board authorized a 2016 agricultural water rate no higher than $102 per acre foot, but ultimately decided to set this year’s rate at $65 per acre foot, opting to use financial reserves to soften the blow to BBID’s growers. The previous rate was $20 per acre foot.
“We know it will be difficult for our farmers and ranchers to shoulder this additional burden,” said BBID General Manager Rick Gilmore. “BBID has been able to keep the same, low rate in place for more than 20 years, but recent events made today’s action unavoidable to protect the financial stability of the District.”
The move comes in the midst of BBID’s ongoing legal battle with the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to protect BBID’s senior water rights, at the same time the District stands to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in property tax revenue–back in November 2015, the Board of Supervisors voted to detached six tax-rate areas within the Town of Discovery Bay.
Currently BBID’s jurisdiction partially overlaps with the Town Discovery Bay and both receive tax revenue or fees to provide water service, but only the Town of Discovery Bay actually provides water to the overlapping area and all other residents of Discovery Bay.
Supervisor Mary Nejedly Piepho stated, “Government agencies should not receive tax revenue from taxpayers when the agency is not providing a service. It is particularly egregious in this case as BBID was advised in 1993 that it was necessary to detach. BBID collected almost $700,000 last year without providing any service to Discovery Bay residents. This must stop.”
With the detachment process being pursued, the BBID service area, an area that generated $685,000 in annual property revenue. BBID expects to lose half of that revenue in 2016, and the full amount by 2017.
The Byron-Bethany Irrigation District had previously admitted that the additional funds coming in from Discovery Bay helped subsidize farmland to keep rates low.
The District also said that the State Water Resources Board’s attack on BBID’s water rights has resulted in an expensive – but critically necessary – legal fight to protect the pre-1914 water rights that provide the foundation for the District’s reliable water deliveries its growers depend on.
Byron-Bethany Irrigation District (BBID) is a multi-county special district serving parts of Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Joaquin Counties across 47 square miles and 30,000 acres. The district serves 160 agricultural customers and approximately 12,000 residents of the Mountain House community.
Agricultural Water Delivery User Charges Cost of Service Study
http://bbid.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/BBID-2016-COS-Final-Report.pdf
BBID 218 Presentation from CV Strategies on Vimeo.
2 comments
$102 per acre foot is a bargain, a giveaway, when the water runs out we’ll be sorry for not saving.
Metro customers in SoCal pay over $400 per acre foot in some cases. The sympathy play so these guys can continue to be subsidized by local residents is an insult.
Anybody else been enjoying a water bill that has remained artificially low for 20 years? Why does BBID think they are special?
This was/is corporate welfare, plain and simple.
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