Action Delayed on Water Fee Increase

Water officials Wednesday delayed voting on a proposed fee increase for pumping water from the Oxnard Plain and Las Posas Valley after a taxpayers advocate asked for more information.

Mike Saliba of the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn. asked the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency board to put off voting on an increase of 40 cents per acre-foot until the water board staff could provide information on why the boost is needed.

County residents recently passed growth-control measures that seek to preserve farmland. However, Saliba said, the increased fees could make it harder for farmers to stay in business.

“For each individual farmer, it’s not that big a deal,” Saliba said. “But it has a cumulative effect and that is why we got involved.”

The agency regulates pumping from 760 wells in Las Posas Basin and the Fox Canyon Aquifer, the county’s largest underground supply. The wells serve about 450 growers and supplement water supplies for Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo and Moorpark.

Lowell Preston, staff member for the ground water agency, presented the five-member board with a proposal to increase pumping charges from $2.60 to $3 per acre-foot. Preston said the hike is needed, beginning July 1, to cover the increased costs of labor and to maintain the agency’s cash reserves.

But Saliba told the board that Preston did not provide an adequate breakdown of labor charges. The board directed Preston to provide more detailed information at its May meeting, Saliba said.