Countywide : Water District Will Weigh Tax Hikes

The Municipal Water District of Orange County will hold a public meeting Thursday night to discuss a possible property tax increase to cover added charges levied by its supplier, the Metropolitan Water District.

The Municipal Water District plans to tag a $10 charge onto property owners’ November tax bills to cover an additional $3 million in charges from the Metropolitan Water District, a wholesaler that supplies water to local water districts, said Keith Coolidge, a spokesman for the Municipal Water District.

Under the proposal, property owners in cities that receive water from Municipal Water District and own less than one acre of land will be charged $10 per year. Owners of more than one acre will pay $10 per acre annually, Coolidge said.

The tax will not affect the cities of Anaheim, Fullerton, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point and San Clemente because those cities buy water directly from the Metropolitan Water District, Coolidge added.

The Metropolitan Water District adopted a 10-year, $50-million capital improvement plan in May that passes on the cost of revamping the district’s water supply system and building more storage facilities to customers. The plan was to levy a $5-per-parcel tax on all customers, raising $25 million. The other $25 million will be billed to the 27 member agencies, including the Municipal Water District.

But a recent opinion by the state attorney general’s office stated that the Metropolitan Water District could only implement one of the two components to avoid double taxing property owners. Metropolitan’s board will decide Tuesday whether to litigate the attorney general’s opinion or come up with another plan. In either case, the municipal district will go ahead with Thursday’s public hearing, Coolidge said.

“We don’t know what their board is going to do and it’s too late to cancel the public meeting,” Coolidge said. “We really have to proceed on the assumption that nothing is going to change. If they want to raise $25 million off their member agencies, no matter what they call it, we don’t have the reserves to meet that without the (property) charge. This sort of leaves us with an option.”

Thursday’s public hearing will be at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Costa Mesa High School at 2650 Fairview Ave.