California’s
multi-county enterprise water special districts were dealt a blow
June 11 when the Assembly Local Government Committee voted 5-2
in favor of Sen.
Tom Torlakson’s (D-Antioch) SB 407. The proposed legislation
would repeal the Educational Revenue
Augmentation Fund (ERAF) exemption that these enterprise districts
have had since the early 1990s when ERAF was created. SB 407 takes
this special district ERAF formula money and sends it not to the
K-12 schools and community colleges but to other local government
entities (i.e. cities and counties for their own discretionary
use).
The bill was
then heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on July 2 and
was placed into the "suspense file" because its costs
rise above the $150,000 threshold for the suspense calendar. All
bills on the suspense calendar will be dispensed with the week of
August 25, 2003.
ACWA, the
League of California Cities, the California
State Association of Counties, the California
Special Districts Association and others testified June 11 in
opposition to SB 407, which would cause enterprise water districts
to lose a significant portion of their property tax revenue by imposing
a transfer of either: 40% of the total amount of ad valorem property
tax allocated to a district or an amount equal to 10% of a district’s
total revenue from whatever source.
Stating that
this legislation would critically hurt these water districts, their
customers and legislators’ constituents, opponents argued
that water districts that cannot necessarily just raise rates in
order to deal with the loss of revenue.
“We don’t
feel like it’s fair, we don’t feel like it’s equitable,”
ACWA Legislative Advocate Wendy Ridderbusch said in response to
Sen. Torlakson’s claim that this proposal is intended to create
equity among local government entities that are required to pay
into ERAF.
“We’re
willing to take our cuts, it’s unrealistic to come here and
think we’re not going to be affected, but property taxes are
the bread and butter of special districts,” Ridderbusch argued,
reminding the committee that Gov. Davis’ 2003-04 budget proposal
recommends increasing fees for waste discharge permits and core
regulatory programs and cutting $14.7 million in general fund money
from the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB).
Voting for SB
407 and against ACWA’s position were: Assembly Members Sally
Lieber (D-Mountain View), Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), Gene Mullin
(D-S. San Francisco), Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) and Darrell
Steinberg (D-Sacramento). Voting against the bill and for ACWA’s
position were: Assembly Members Lynn Daucher (R-Brea) and Greg Aghazarian
(R-Stockton). Committee Chairman Simon Salinas (D-Salinas) did not
cast a vote. His district includes Aromas Water District, which
would be impacted by SB 407. Assembly Member Jay La Suer (R-La Mesa)
was absent.
For any district-specific
budget questions, please contact State Legislative Advocate Wendy
Ridderbusch at 916.441.4545.
|
