Throughout the past year, Cambrians have been watching the CCSD more closely than usual. A number of concerns have been raised about the way the process was undertaken and the action to increase the rates was probably premature (or at least ill advised).

At the August 21, 2008 meeting of the Cambria Community Services District (CCSD), the Board approved a rate increase of 12%, following a process whereby Cambrians were given the right to vote on new assessments, fees and rates paid to a local agency, called by its ballot measure number: “Prop 218”.

The District claims the number of protest statements was less than the required 50% plus one needed to stop the increase. The count was very close. A group of Cambrians (Cambrians for Fiscal Responsibility a.k.a. CFR) who dispute the results have been working on proving the protest did indeed succeed.

If the number of valid protest letters is enough to defeat the increase, the district is not within its legal rights to increase the rates. Making sure the CCSD is appropriately funded is important, but I believe there is a more pressing concern. The Board agreed that the CCSD should only have the initial increase of 12% , not the additional increase of 14% proposed for July 2009. By imposing the rate increase, even one that includes direction to staff not pursue the $8.1 million loan and eliminates the 2nd increase entirely, they have put themselves between a rock and a hard place. While they modified the proposed increase to reflect objections raised by those who protested, their action essentially dismissed legitimate community concerns without addressing them or directing staff to address them. The Board has neglected their essential role as the link between the District and the community. Their action could be interpreted as protecting the CCSD, instead of the interests of their constituents.

Building and maintaining confidence in the CCSD is part of their responsibility as elected officials. They are our representatives and should respond to community concerns, whether or not they agree with them. One way that could have been accomplished would have been asking for proof of the accuracy of the prop 218 outcome. By doing nothing to dispel the numerous concerns or answer any of the questions, the Board has damaged the level of confidence and fostered mistrust in the staff and the Board. Even though in a constitutionally mandated process, about half of the town spoke up to stop an increase in the rates, there was no suggestion there should be a recount nor were disqualified protests given a second look. And that is only one part of a larger process, riddled with flaws, undertaken in a sloppy, careless way. They have shown disregard for the spirit of the law and little respect for the right of the community to have a say in our government.

Although this was the second time we’d gone through the process in less than a year, the CCSD didn’t offer to explain the nuances of how protest letters would be scrutinized before the counting began and refused to respond to questions from the group organizing the protest (CFR). This, combined with the five weeks it took to finalize the count of 2500 protest letters submitted, it wasn’t difficult to believe that the CCSD was making up the rules as they went along and the District did nothing to refute this impression. There are probably Cambrians who would usually give the District the benefit of the doubt if they had been more forthcoming. At the very least, there would have been fewer opponents to silence.

The CCSD Board and General Manager missed one opportunity after another to rebuild public confidence. In fact, what little was said was vague and easily misinterpreted – assumptions that were not corrected. The CCSD implied the volunteer observers from the League of Women Voters were making determinations about the validity of specific protests. (They were not.) They also implied the County Clerk-Recorder endorsed the decision to run the letters through the process used to verify ballot petitions and would support the protests disqualified for “miscompared” signatures. (She did not.) They implied this protest was determined ‘like an election’. (It was not.)

The amount of time spent counting the protest statements was surely much more than was needed. Requests to view the public records that support the District’s claim that the protest failed have been incomplete or slow in coming. I hope they will be writing and publishing the procedures for the process before it is called into use again. The rules should be clear from the start, and we should have a written policy describing our right to make sure our protest was counted. To date, I’ve spoken to at least four people who have been unable to get an answer to the question of whether or not their protest letter was counted. If ever there was a process ripe for standardizing and fixing, it is the Prop. 218 process as it applies to water and sewer rates. And Cambria’s recent experiences point up nearly all the weak links in the current state of law on the process and could be the model of what NOT to do. It is a case where a precedent could be established that would likely be a broader public benefit to other citizens.

When the Howard Jarvis Association had Proposition 218 placed on the ballot in 1996, it did not apply to water and sewer rates. But in 2006, a court determined the “Right to Vote on Taxes Act” did indeed apply to water and sewer rates, in addition to fire benefit assessments, developers fees and a host of other “property related” income sources for local governments. Perhaps we should be getting that association involved if the District continues to stymie attempts to get at the reasons over 600 letters of protest were tossed out and a defensible total number of customers/parcels with service.

Over the past year, the District has spent many, many hours of staff time working to get a rate increase approved, using any means available and ripping loopholes in the law. If Cambrians want a better CCSD, they must stand up and say so. Come to the CCSD meeting this Thursday at the Vets Hall at 12:30pm. Register to vote (deadline October 20), attend the candidates’ forums on October 7 and October 20, and go to the polls on November 4 to vote for the Cambrians you think will represent and protect your interests.

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Last 5 posts by Amanda Rice