Property Fee Rise OKd for Flood Repair, Waterway Plan

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved higher fees on most county property owners to repair damage from February’s floods and pay for a new federal program to remove pollution from area waterways.

The supervisors, acting as directors of the county Flood Control District, ratified increases ranging from 57% to 79% for residents of Moorpark, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley. The current levy is $24.12 a year.

In Oxnard, an increase from $21.95 to $28.33 per parcel will show up this year on property tax bills.

Residents of western Ventura and the Ojai Valley will pay $16.83, up from $13.93.

But in Port Hueneme, Fillmore, Santa Paula and eastern Ventura the new levy is about $2 less than the current $21.95 charge.

The charges vary because the levies reflect the amount that the flood control district expects to spend this year on projects in three areas that drain into Calleguas Creek and the Santa Clara and Ventura rivers.

The fees in the Calleguas Creek watershed are particularly high because nearly $10 million, or $7.17 a parcel, is needed to pay for heavy damage to flood-control channels. The Ventura and Santa Clara rivers, in contrast, received little damage from last winter’s storms.

The amount levied to pay for the anti-pollution program ranges from 99 cents a parcel in Ventura and Ojai to $9.45 in Oxnard, which has moved further along in the program to monitor pollutants washing to sea through waterways.

The fees for the pollution monitoring program will even out as it is fully implemented throughout the county, officials said.