Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Supervisors Back Water Agency’s Dispute Against Santa Clarita : Lawsuit: The CLWA is fighting the city’s $1-billion claim on future property taxes.

Entering into a long-running fray, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors sided with the Castaic Lake Water Agency on Tuesday in its legal dispute with the city of Santa Clarita over tax revenues.

The board’s vote directs the county’s counsel to file a legal brief in support of the water agency as part of the agency’s lawsuit against the city.

Santa Clarita officials want to use more than $1 billion in future property taxes over the next 30 years to fund a redevelopment agency. The water agency maintains it is entitled to a portion of that tax money.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the area, abstained from the vote, which was introduced by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. An Antonovich aide said the county should not have taken sides.

“There have been suggestions in the past that the county should jump into the lawsuit as well, but we felt it was premature, and we still do,” said Dave Vannatta, Antonovich’s planning aide.

Vannatta said Yaroslavsky’s aides had not informed Antonovich’s camp about the motion, a charge Yaroslavsky aides deny.

The motion reads in part: “The redevelopment plan, ostensibly to assist the city of Santa Clarita to recover from the Northridge earthquake, covers virtually the entire city, and is among the largest plans ever adopted in California.”

It continues: “Seeking $1.1 billion in tax increment, it goes far beyond what is necessary, depriving other public agencies of badly needed revenue.”

Water agency spokeswoman Laurie Odum said the county’s support was “very encouraging,” said .

The county and the water agency have become allies in the dispute because both depend on funding from property taxes, the money Santa Clarita now wants to use for its redevelopment projects.

The dispute started last year after the Santa Clarita City Council approved the use of $1.1 billion in future property tax revenues to create a redevelopment area to help the city recover from the Northridge earthquake.

But because the Castaic Lake Water Agency uses property taxes as one of its revenue sources, it sued the city. Water agency officials say they need the tax money to pay off debts, including a bond issue used to build the Rio Vista water treatment plant.

Castaic has estimated that it stands to lose as much as $48 million over the 30-year life of the redevelopment plan if the city uses property taxes to fund the redevelopment area.

The water agency lost its first lawsuit against the city, but has appealed. The second lawsuit, which challenges the method in which the redevelopment agency was established, has been given an Oct. 16 trial date.

On Tuesday, Santa Clarita City Atty. Carl Newton, said the board’s friend-of-the-court brief will probably not affect the case.

“I don’t know if it changes much at all,” he said. “We still believe we have done everything legally.”