By Pat Orr
For the Apple Valley Review
In 1991 I had a huge house on the golf course with a lawn you could play soccer on.
My water bill was high.
The economy turned down and I downsized to a home with mostly a dirt front yard and a back yard that was ugly but had grass.
My bill was still high.
I tore what grass I had in the front out, scaled back the grass in the backyard and put down enough rock to build Hoover Dam. I also put in three low-flow toilets. I used cash-for-grass money for some of the work and felt good about my wise use of resources.
My water bill went up.
I understand the utter frustration we all have with high water rates. I make pizza for a living and both literally and figuratively, I need water to make a lot of dough. I also understand this new effort being undertaken by the Town Council to investigate the purchase of Park Water stock — a controlling interest in Ranchos Water Company is driven by anger. The problem is we have been here before, and not very long ago.
Blue Ribbon research
Myself and a dozen or so other citizens were named to the Apple Valley Blue Ribbon Water Committee with a task of evaluating the purchase of Ranchos Water when it was revealed they may be selling to the Carlyle Group, a giant multi-national investment fund just two years ago.
Without going over the old ground, let me summarize our findings after 30 days of study, charts, projections and calculations: We can’t afford it and operating it at break-even would be a political nightmare.
Under this new idea, where would the money come from? This isn’t chump change we are talking about. Yes, we can put a bond measure on the ballot for Apple Valley property owners to express their will.
They didn’t vote for fire; will they vote for water?
The problem with bonds that are paid from property taxes is that funds fluctuate with market conditions and some of us property owners are darn tired of footing the bill for every improvement, school and mandated program politicians come up with. Yes, everyone would pay their water bill but only property owners would pay the bond off.
Let me put it this way: If you buy me a new top-of-the-line Mercedes, I’ll be a happy to buy the gas for it, as long as you keep up the loan payments.
Rate response
The likely biggest issue: Who sets the rates in a municipally owned water district? Is there a councilperson alive that longs to sit in a meeting and discuss a water rate increase, let alone vote yes on a rate increase? Would you like to sit on the advisory board that tells the council the water district needs more money?
It’s true that the whole California Public Utilities Commission rate mechanism is a broken sham of a process but purchasing a system like Ranchos with its debt load and capital improvement needs would be a constant source of division in Apple Valley. Is it possible to do it? Yes. Is it wise to pursue it now?
Council concern
Since we already have challengers — and there may be more — looking to replace the three Town Council members up for re-election in November, you can bet this will get some attention in the coming months. The purchase of the local water system may end up being a very expensive bandwagon to jump on this election season.
— Pat Orr is a local business owner, community volunteer and political junkie.