Water Agency Delays Proposed Tax Levy

Calleguas Municipal Water District officials decided Wednesday to delay adopting a proposed $10 tax on 150,149 properties from Simi Valley to Oxnard, saying they wanted to wait until the state budget is completed.

Calleguas officials said the district may be able to reduce the charge to $5 because lawmakers have not cut as deeply into the water wholesaler’s revenues as had been feared.

“It looks like the district will be able to retain 60% of the monies we thought we were going to lose,” Calleguas General Manager Don Kendall said. “I think the board will be included to reduce the parcel charge by that amount” from $10 to $5, he said.

But because the governor has yet to sign the budget, Calleguas’ board of directors decided to postpone adoption until Tuesday.

The levy, known as a parcel charge, could be imposed on every lot or acre of land--more than 225,000 acres--within Calleguas’ service territory. As Ventura County’s largest water wholesaler, Calleguas supplies nearly 500,000 customers in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Moorpark, Oxnard and the unincorporated communities of Oak Park, Somis, Bell Canyon and Lake Sherwood.

The cash-strapped water district would raise about $2 million from a $10 levy, replacing part of the $3.5 million lost in property tax revenues last year when Gov. Pete Wilson and state lawmakers diverted those funds to other state programs.

Its tax-levy proposal was criticized again by Ventura County farmers and residents.

Larry Fuller, a Balcom Canyon resident, said he should not have to pay the tax because he cannot receive Calleguas water.

“Since 1960, we have tried and tried with every water company around to try to annex with them,” Fuller said. Instead, he said he was forced to drill his own well. “Don’t put a rock on our backs because we are going to have to fight and we don’t want to.”