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LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Press/Banner December 18, 2003
Mr. Dugan's facts were wrong in a recent letter to the editor published in the Valley Press.
The Montara bond is for 24 years, not 29, and the increase in property taxes for Montara has not yet been set. Mr. Dugan's numbers for the amount of that increase are his speculation. The Montara board member who spoke at our meeting thinks they will be less.
When Mr. Dugan writes that Montara "shelled out millions in attorney's fees" he is missing the point. Montara PUC attorneys intervened in 4 separate docket items. In one case, their intervention will result in net savings to ratepayers of about $500,000 per year after after seven years.
There are important differences between the Felton and Montara water situations. Montara faces a water shortage severe enough that it once had a moratorium on water hookups. Felton has a surplus of water in non-drought years. When both districts were owned by CalAm, Montara residents paid more for water than Feltoners, and it is reasonable to expect that pattern to continue.
According to LAFCO, a typical Felton household now pays about $15 per month more than a typical SLVWD household. In addition, CalAm proposes to increase Felton water rates by more than $500,000 per year. Much of that money will leave our community, because CalAm is owned by a chain of holding companies based in New Jersey, the UK, and Germany.
It is likely that SLVWD can deliver water in Felton for the same rates that it delivers water in the rest of the San Lorenzo Valley, providing a savings that could be used to pay off a bond.
The statement that I am a "ringleader" who is "sending a message that private businesses and jobs in our are community are not welcome" is laughably inaccurate. Quite the contrary, I am working to hold down the water bills of those private businesses, along with the water bills for everyone else.
I also believe that our public water district, the one that sold watershed lands to Sempervirens, will make a better watershed steward than the private water company which overpumped the Carmel River.
Tod Landis