EXHIBIT 9-A
DRAFT
ORDINANCE
NO. 123
AN ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF
THE
MONTEREY PENINSULA WATER MANAGEMENT
DISTRICT
INCREASING WATER USE FEES TO FUND AQUIFER
STORAGE RECOVERY AND RELATED WATER SUPPLY
EXPENSES
1. The Water Management District was
created to address water problems in the Monterey Peninsula area which the Legislature
found required integrated management, and was endowed with the powers set forth
in the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District Law (Chapter 527 of the
Statutes of 1977, found at West’s Water Code – Appendix, Section 118-1, et
seq.).
2.
The Water
Management District has general and specific power to do any and every lawful
act necessary in order that sufficient water may be available for present or
future beneficial use or uses, and to fix and collect rates and charges for the
providing or availability of any service as set forth in Sections 308, 325 and
326 of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District Law.
3.
The Water
Management District, based in part upon the April 14, 2005, “Seaside
Groundwater Basin: Update on Water Resource Conditions” prepared by Gus Yates,
Martin Feeney and Lewis Rosenberg (“Seaside Basin Report”), has determined that
the annual quantity of groundwater that can be produced in the Coastal Subarea
of the Seaside Groundwater Basin without causing adverse effects, such as
seawater intrusion, declining water levels, and land subsidence (characterized
as “Sustainable Yield”) is 2,220 acre feet per year. During water year 2004, production in the Coastal Subarea of the
Seaside Groundwater Basin exceeded Sustainable Yield by 2,651 acre-feet.
4.
The Seaside Groundwater
Basin is the underground water basin underlying the Seaside Basin Area,
corresponding to the Paso Robles aquifer, as illustrated in the Seaside Basin
Report at Figure E-1, Figure 1 and as discussed on page 18 of that Report.
5.
The Water
Management District holds authority to manage and regulate use, reuse and
reclamation of surface and groundwater within its jurisdiction. It is charged with conservation and
augmentation responsibilities in addition to its responsibility to integrate
management of ground and surface water resources. To this end, the Water Management District owns and jointly operates
with California American Water (Cal-Am) an Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR)
project which diverts excess flows from the Carmel River through the Cal-Am
water distribution system for injection into the Groundwater Basin through the
District’s ASR test well, and which enables recovery of that water by Cal-Am
for delivery to its customers.
6.
The Water
Management District has determined that the ASR Phase 1 expansion is needed to
address and mitigate potential adverse effects that may result from
overproduction from the Seaside Groundwater Basin. ASR Expansion is required to promote and protect the
adequacy and integrity of the waters of the Basin. The ASR effort injects
water into the Coastal Subarea of the Seaside Groundwater Basin to store such
water for reasonable and beneficial use, to artificially replenish groundwater
supplies of the Coastal Subarea, and to add non-native water to offset
cumulative over-production from the Seaside Basin.
7.
The Water Management District regularly incurs expenses
to create, maintain and operate ASR,
including but not limited to operations and maintenance costs, and capital
improvement costs. ASR expansion costs
include planning, specifications and engineering, expansion site planning,
completing review of long-term ASR operation pursuant to the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and debt service. Operation and maintenance expenses include costs of staff,
consultants, rent, repair, replacement, rehabilitation, fuel, power, electrical
current, care, and supervision necessary to properly install, operate and
maintain ASR, and includes reserves needed to address reasonable yet
unanticipated contingencies such as emergencies and disasters.
8.
Expenses to maintain, repair, and expand the Water
Management District’s ASR expansion effort cannot be adequately funded without
increasing water use fees pursuant to this ordinance. ASR expansion is necessary to protect District water resources,
satisfy water quantity and water quality requirements, meet existing
commitments for water demand, and provide
sufficient water for present or future beneficial use.
9.
Based on reasonable and fair investigation, the Water
Management District Board of Directors has determined that an increase in the
District’s existing water use fee is needed to fund the Phase 1 expansion
effort, and proposed future ASR expansion costs. The Board has further determined that debt issuance secured by
the increased user fee is the most cost-effective means to finance ASR
expansion costs. The Water Management
District has budgeted for fiscal
year 2005-2006 ASR Phase 1 expansion costs of $345,000, and anticipates
$2,660,000 in ASR Phase 1 expansion costs in fiscal years 2006-7 and 2007-8,
for a total estimated expenditure of $3,005,000. An increase to the fee applied by the Water Management District to
the water use from the Cal-Am Water Distribution
System in the amount of 1.2% will generate $3,090,000, which is the total
estimated expenditure for Phase I expansion costs plus $85,000 in anticipated
debt issuance costs. This increase will
result in a total use fee applied to Cal-Am water use of 8.325%.
10.
The water use
fee established by this ordinance is not a user fee or charge for a
“property-related service” and is not a “property-related fee or charge” as those
terms are defined by California Constitution, Article 13D, section 2. The water use fee instead is a fee imposed
upon actual water use, variable by the amount consumed.
11.
The Board of Directors finds that the water use fees
set by this ordinance shall not collect funds beyond those required to maintain
plant, equipment, facilities, supplies and personnel necessary to provide water
service, and that the charge to any specific water user shall not exceed the
proportional cost to provide or reserve water to that water user.
12.
Having made fair investigation into the facts and
circumstances requiring this ordinance, each member of the Board of Directors
of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District finds the rates and charges
proposed herein are reasonable based on his or her exercise of judgment and
discretion.
13.
The need for expanded ASR has been heightened by the
lack of legal Cal-Am water supplies resulting from State Water Resources
Control Board (SWRCB) Order WR 95-10, and the listing of the California
red-legged frog and steelhead as threatened species under the federal
Endangered Species Act (ESA).
14.
This ordinance is exempt from CEQA pursuant to
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines section 15273(a)(1) –
Rates, Tolls, Fares, Charges. The Board
of Directors determines and declares that water use fee set and authorized by
this ordinance are to meet Water Management District operating expenses,
including employee wage rates and fringe benefits, consultant services, legal
services and direct costs, including permit processing, enforcement and
associated litigation expenses. A
Notice of Exemption shall be filed.
NOW THEREFORE be it ordained as follows:
Section One: Short Title
This ordinance shall be known as the ASR Expansion Fee Ordinance of the
Monterey Peninsula Water Management District.
Section Two: Purposes
This ordinance shall implement a water use
fee collected solely from Cal-Am system water users, factored upon actual water
use and variable as to the amount of water consumed. Proceeds of this fee shall fund District water supply activities,
including Phase 1 of its Aquifer Storage & Recovery (ASR) effort. In addition to ASR activities, proceeds of
this water use fee may also be allocated, by Resolution at the discretion of
the District Board of Directors, provided that all such expenses shall confer
benefit and/or service to existing Cal-Am Water Distribution System water
users. These services may include, but
shall not be limited to conservation, rationing, irrigation, erosion control,
mitigation, water supply planning, and water augmentation program
expenses. Unexpended fee revenue in any
single year may be placed a program reserve for later use to fund expenses
associated with planning for, acquiring and/or reserving augmented water supply
capacity, including but not limited to engineering, hydrologic, legal,
geologic, fishery, appraisal, financial, and property acquisition endeavors.
Section Three: Fee
Implementation
This Ordinance shall authorize
immediate collection of a water use fee in the aggregate amount of 1.2 percent
of the Monterey District of the California American Water Company (Cal-Am) from
each customer water bill. This increase
will result in a total Monterey Peninsula Water Management District use fee
applied to Cal-Am water use of 8.325%.
Section Four: Publication and
Application
The provisions of this ordinance
shall not cause the amendment or republication of the permanent Rules and
Regulations of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. This ordinance shall be read in conjunction
with and compliment those provisions of the District's Rules and Regulations. All definitions used in the District Rules
and Regulations shall apply to this ordinance.
This ordinance shall take effect at 12:01
a.m. on the 30th day after it has been enacted on second reading. This ordinance shall not have a sunset date,
provided however, that fees set by this ordinance shall not be collected
to the extent proceeds exceed funds required to maintain plant, equipment,
facilities, supplies, personnel and reasonable reserves necessary to provide
water service.
Section
Six: Severability
If any subdivision, paragraph, sentence,
clause or phrase of this ordinance is, for any reason, held to be invalid or
unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity shall not
affect the validity or enforcement of the remaining portions of this ordinance,
or of any other provisions of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District
Rules and Regulations. It is the
District's express intent that each remaining portion would have been adopted
irrespective of the fact that one or more subdivisions, paragraphs, sentences,
clauses, or phrases be declared invalid or unenforceable.
On motion by Director
__________, and second by Director ____________, the foregoing ordinance is
adopted upon this ______ day of ________________, 2005, by the following vote:
AYES:
NAYS:
ABSENT:
I, David A. Berger,
Secretary to the Board of Directors of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management
District, hereby certify the foregoing is a full, true and correct copy of an
ordinance duly adopted on the ________ day of _____________ 2005.
Witness my hand and
seal of the Board of Directors this ________ day of ____________ 2005.
David A. Berger, Secretary to the
Board
U:\staff\word\boardpacket\2005\2005boardpackets\20050815\PublicHrgs\09\item9_exh9a.doc