Local Elections : Ramonans to Vote on a Deluge of Water Issues

Lest they forget there is an election Tuesday on multimillion-dollar improvements to their water and fire protection systems, Ramonans are under a semi-strict water-rationing system designed to cut demand to the level of future supplies.

The rationing, officially termed mandatory conservation, began May 1 and restricts most residents’ outside water uses--car washing, pool filling, lawn watering and so on--to once every five days between 6 p.m. and 11 a.m.

It’s more of a nuisance than a deprivation, Ramonans report, because of the exemptions for commercial users and for hand-held garden hose use.

However, Jose Hurtado, general manager of the Ramona Municipal Water District, warns that the restrictions could escalate if the three-pronged problems plaguing the inland community’s water system linger into the long, hot summer:

- The prolonged drought, now into its fourth year, which has sapped the storage in Sutherland Reservoir, a city of San Diego facility near Ramona that provides some of Ramona’s drinking water.

- The expiration of a contract with the city of Poway and the County Water Authority, which ensures delivery of up to 8.5 million gallons of water a day to Ramona. The contract expires June 30, but negotiations are under way, and a one-year extension is expected.

- The lack of adequate capacity in Ramona’s water pipelines and its water treatment plant. District officials contend that they must spend about $31 million to expand the pipe and plant capacity in order to serve Ramona’s growing population. Despite a recently completed storage lake that can hold 13,000 acre-feet of water, the district now has no way to process or distribute adequate supply to its customers.

Ramonans will vote on three water measures Tuesday:

Proposition C seeks to issue slightly less than $15 million in revenue bonds or certificates of participation to install an 18.3-mile-long cross-town pipeline, linking Lake Ramona with the water treatment plant, and Sutherland Reservoir, and to double the size of the treatment plant.

No estimates are available on what the average Ramonan would pay for the $14.97-million worth of projects in Proposition C, but district officials pledge that developers would ante up 90% of the water-plant upgrading and expansion costs in fees paid when they obtain building permits. Residents would pay their share through a 1% surcharge on water bills, a fee already being collected.

Foes of Proposition C, organized as Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, do not dispute the need for the pipeline and water plant projects, but they urge a “no” vote on the issue until safeguards are in place to guarantee that developers will pay their 90% share.

The group, led by Sam Mitchell and David Tarr, also charges that the water district is not telling voters the real cost of the projects. With accrued interest over the 30 years of bond payments, opponents claim, actual expenditures will reach nearly $45 million.

A second measure, Proposition D, proposes $15.9 million in revenue bonds or certificates of participation to finance the replacement of aging water distribution pipes throughout the community, the construction of a 3-million-gallon storage reservoir and the installation of a second water pipeline to serve San Diego Country Estates, a community southeast of Ramona.

Water district directors say the pipeline improvements are needed to replace badly rusted and corroded pipes and to increase water pressure that now is weak enough to threaten fire-hydrant pressure in older areas of town. The new reservoir also is needed to sustain water pressure and guarantee peak flows.

The cost of the reservoir and distribution system repairs would be shared, with developers paying 75% and users 25%, district officials say. The cost of the San Diego Country Estates pipeline would be shared equally by developers and users.

Opponents of Proposition D counter that projects would cost $48 million, not $16 million, when interest payments are added in over the life of the bonds.

They also charge that the three issues should be voted on separately because present users should not have to pay for a pipeline to San Diego Country Estates or for a reservoir to serve new development in western Ramona in order to obtain an upgraded distribution system.

The third measure, Proposition E, calls for $3.9 million in certificates of participation to build a new headquarters station ($2.16 million) and a new fire station ($1.03 million), and to expand and renovate a third fire station ($710,000).

Built to Serve 5,500

The facilities would be built “completely from developer fees as money from those fees is available,” according to the water district’s ballot argument. Existing fire stations were built to serve a community of 5,500, the argument says, but Ramona’s population is now estimated at 28,000 to 30,000.

Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility echoed earlier arguments in criticizing Proposition E: that actual costs would be nearly three times the amount listed, projects are grouped for political reasons and to ensure “something for everyone,” and each of the projects should have been listed separately and scaled down to less grandiose proportions.

Each of the Ramona propositions requires only a majority (50% plus one vote) for passage, so water district directors who endorsed them are optimistic about their passage.

Mitchell and Tarr are urging defeat of the propositions in order to show the water district that voters meant what they said when they approved Proposition NN last November. NN requires that all district expenditures over $1 million (or $1.5 million for reservoirs) be submitted to voters.