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Leaders of the Castlewood Property Owners Association submitted 189 written objections to the county public works department’s proposed supplemental water service charge of $6,829.27 per household Thursday.
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors will review results of the vote at its meeting Tuesday (June 17) at 1221 Oak St. in Oakland. The objections represent 92% of the eligible votes, way over the 50% threshold to stop the charge from taking effect. The association filed suit against the county last year after the board unilaterally enacted the charge to cover what public works described as a budget shortfall.
When the parties settled the suit, Proposition 218 required the county to send letters to each property owner asking if they objected to the charge. The association’s board, early on, made its opposition to the charge clear and organized a campaign with block captains to collect objection letters that required original signatures from the property owner of record.
Rich Hammel, association president who delivered the forms with board colleagues Mike Mitchell and Doug Ricketts, said they received a written receipt as well as photographing the transaction. He was quite pleased with the organized effort to collect the objections.
The proposed supplemental charge would die with the objections, but that will not solve the problems the association has identified. The county public works dept. manages the county service area covering Castlewood’s water and sewer services as well as roads. The water charge was raised 172% on the current year’s property taxes.
The association members pay the highest water charges in the county, topping even the city of Pleasanton after its hotly debated increase.
Castlewood homeowners saw their water maintenance and operations charge soar from $1,089 to $2,958, or $338 for 330 units per year. City of Pleasanton rates, even after the hefty increases, are $180 while Dublin San Ramon Services District clients pay $169 and Fremont area users pay $168.
Given the hefty increase in water charges in the current fiscal year, the water fund likely will be solvent for the upcoming fiscal year that starts July 1. Hammel is concerned about the road charge that has not been increased in 10 years.
He pointed out that the county has to contract for outside agencies or companies to manage the water and sewer systems because it does not have its own staff. CalWater, the city of Pleasanton and two private firms have handled water and sewer management in recent years.
The December settlement agreement commits the county to work with the association to improve its own management capabilities or help it form its own community service area or potentially annex to Pleasanton. The public works director has said he would like to see the association move away from the county. Annexation to Pleasanton has been considered before and has not moved ahead. The city cut significantly from its upcoming two-year budget to bring it into balance so any potential annexation would have to be cash positive for the city.
A community service area would have directly elected members who would contract with a management company, but the county supervisors would retain final say over the budget. A key point of negotiation is what percentage of the property tax would be allocated to the service area versus retained to cover the cost of fire protection and the sheriff’s department. Directors have said that any changes likely will be more expensive and result in higher annual dues for homeowners.
Editor’s note: Correspondent Tim Hunt and his family live within the Castlewood service area.
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