Dear friends,
The Delta Tunnels project is on “thin ice."The plan is in major need of continued financial support from smaller urban agencies such as Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) and Zone 7 Water Agency in Alameda County.
In their new petition alert, Californians for Water Security, the Stewart Resnick Big Ag front group, is asking Californians to send emails in support of the Delta Tunnels/CA Water Fix to Santa Clara Valley Water District’s Board. Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) needs to hear from California ratepayers like you that will actually pay the costs.
Let’s make sure the tunnels plan does not get this support! We need you to counter their action. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association recently sent a letter suggesting legal action against Zone 7 Water Agency and the Santa Clara Valley Water District, arguing against Delta Tunnels financing, read the story here.
Send an e-mail to SCVWD Board@valleywater.org and tell them:
Dear Santa Clara Valley Water District Board Members,
First off, I would like to express my appreciation that the Board recognizes that it should consult with ratepayers regarding parcel taxes for financing the Delta tunnels project. You are off to a good start.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, however, recently said in the San Jose Mercury News that raising property taxes for Delta Tunnels would violate Proposition 13 and could lead to lawsuits. As a water ratepayer and property taxpayer, I do not want to pay money for a project that will not create additional water supply, but mostly benefit corporate agriculture in the southwestern San Joaquin Valley.
In addition, as Westlands and San Luis Delta-Mendota Water Authority have recently been placed on negative credit watch after being fined by the SEC for engaging in a little Enron accounting, it is clear that these agencies cannot be counted on to contribute a 40% capital share toward the tunnels.
The Delta Tunnels would violate not only our federal and state standards of environmental and social justice law, but California tax law. As part of the Bay-Delta region, it makes sense for SCVWD to align itself with other Bay-Delta communities to protect the long-term health of the SF Bay-Delta estuary.
Please vote no against continued CA WaterFix/Delta Tunnels support. Save the Bay-Delta estuary for our children and future generations.
###
In case you missed it!
Gov. Brown's $17 billion Delta tunnels plan faces new hurdle — a leading taxpayers organization
San Jose Mercury News 3/27/2016
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association — founded by the co-author of Proposition 13 — sent water agencies in Silicon Valley and Alameda County a letter suggesting possible legal action. The letter argued that the tunnels were not part of the original State Water Project plan and that any property tax hike to fund them would be illegal without voter approval.
"What the voters approved in 1960 doesn't say anything about tunnels," said Timothy Bittle, the association's attorney.
If water agencies can raise property taxes to pay for the tunnels without voter approval, homeowners could be on the hook for big tax increases if there are cost overruns, as there were with high-speed rail and the rebuilding of the Bay Bridge, he said…
Don’t trade away our salmon
San Francisco Chronicle 3/26/2016
In yet another battle in California’s water wars, politics is attempting to override science. This has proved disastrous for fisheries and water quality in the past. There is little reason to think it is a good idea now.
