Calabasas : Water Board Renews Annual Parcel Tax

A controversial parcel tax enacted last year by Las Virgenes Municipal Water District has been renewed by the agency’s board of directors.

Since July, the district has charged landowners $10 a year for any parcel of one acre or smaller, and $10 per acre for parcels larger than an acre. The district says the $500,000 it expects to realize annually from the tax will help maintain drinking water delivery facilities.

Revenues from new home hook-up fees have fallen over the years due to a decline in construction, the agency says, putting a fiscal strain on the district, which must maintain water lines, storage tanks, pump stations, a reservoir and a filtration plant.

While much of the money traditionally has come from water rates, the district says, that has been an unreliable source.

The annual parcel tax was renewed Tuesday in a 4-0 vote by the district board. The action drew an angry response from Ralph Enderle, an opponent of the tax who accused the board of going against constituents’ wishes. “It was a done deal,” Enderle said of the board’s vote.

An umbrella organization of area homeowners’ groups--the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation--voted last year to oppose the tax.

Enderle, president of the board of directors of the Greater Mulwood Homeowners Assn., said the district has wasted money by, among other things, investing $8 million in a new headquarters now under construction in Calabasas. District officials say the existing headquarters building was badly damaged by the Northridge earthquake, and that building a new headquarters is the most economically viable solution.

Enderle said he is trying to rally support for a recall effort against two board members, Harold V. “Hal” Helsley and Ann Dorgelo. The two would be good targets for recall, Enderle said, because Helsley represents Division 3, where Enderle lives, and Dorgelo represents Division 5 in the western portion of Agoura Hills--a city with an active anti-tax organization.

Helsley and Dorgelo could not be reached for comment.

Enderle said he also hopes to field candidates against board members A. Macneil “Mac” Stelle and Steve Gavin, whose seats are up for reelection in November.