Parcel Tax, Other Fees OKd by MWD to Raise $50 Million

The Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors, trying to firm up a sagging budget, on Tuesday adopted a new parcel tax and other charges aimed at raising $50 million a year.

The new fees and taxes, which will affect about 17 million consumers throughout Southern California, follow adoption in March of a 21% rate hike that will go into effect July 1 and raise about $80 million annually. The rate hike will cost average consumers about $1.25 a month.

Under the parcel charge, which is expected to raise $25 million annually, landowners will be assessed $5 annually per parcel. Parcels of more than one acre will be charged $5 per acre. Some MWD member agencies--including the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Santa Monica--have said they will absorb the parcel charge for their customers.

The “service availability” charge, which will also raise about $25 million annually, will be assessed on the MWD’s 27 member agencies, based upon their water purchases over the last four years. It is up to the member agencies to determine how they raise the money.

The new charges take effect July 1.

“Improvement must be made to the region’s water supply infrastructure if we are to meet current and future water demands,” said MWD General Manager Carl Boronkay.

“These additional sources of revenue will begin funding necessary construction of needed storage and distribution facilities and pay for conservation and maintenance programs,” he said.

Among the new facilities are a seawater desalination plant. The MWD board on Tuesday authorized spending $2.15 million for the planning and development of the desalination project, which will include construction of a 2,000-gallon-per-day test unit at a coastal power plant site.

The agency previously announced plans to build a 5-million-gallon-per-day desalination plant in the mid-1990s. Data obtained from the 2,000-gallon-a-day test project approved Tuesday will be used to design the larger plant.

The unit could be up and running by August and will be in operation for about one year.