Nothing Special About These Districts : Many Can Be Consolidated, and Members Surely Don’t Need Health or Pension Benefits

No one could argue that Orange County’s 35 special districts don’t serve an important purpose. They grapple with many significant civic issues--water, sanitation, parks, libraries, cemeteries and mosquito abatement. They also bring democracy down to its closest level to the people.

But special districts have grown like Topsy--there are more than 3,000 of them throughout California--and they are overdue for some reforms.

As a recent Times report on South County special districts made clear, many districts ought to be consolidated in order to avoid duplication of services and improve the consistency of service and rates within certain areas. As an example, it seems to make very little sense that there are four water districts in Dana Point--all of them charging different rates to their customers.

It’s good news that, at least in South County, consolidations are up for discussion. They might include some configuration of Capistrano Beach Sanitary District, Dana Point Sanitary District, South Coast Water District and Capistrano Beach County Water District, all of which include all or part of Dana Point.

These as well as other mergers of similar districts in Orange County that serve contiguous areas should be encouraged.

But also of concern is the matter of the perquisites that many special districts have voted for their own members--perks that sometimes even include health and retirement benefits. These kinds of benefit pro grams should be completely re-examined, with an eye toward abandoning them.

It is difficult to see the justification in providing health or retirement benefits to someone whose responsibilities include only attending a few meetings a month. Health and retirement benefits rightly belong to full-time workers--not to those who were elected to office to perform a civic duty.

It is heartening to note that the trend among special districts is away from these kinds of perquisites, mostly as a result of public pressure. But still among those that provide them are the Tri-Cities Municipal Water District, which is based in San Clemente, and the Capistrano Beach County Water District. These districts, and any others still providing health benefits, should discontinue them.

Special districts are needed to conduct the nitty-gritty business of running society. But they must stay focused on the public good.