GOLETA WATER.org

June 15th, 2006, Valley Voice Article - Martha Lannan reports on points of the June 7th Special Board Meeting and the voting down of the ag increase.

June 9th, 2006 Letter from California Avocado Commission Corporate Counsel and Senior Vice President, Tom Bellamore, to Kevin Walsh, General Manager and Chief Engineer of the Goleta Water District. In this letter the Commission urges the support of local farmers by keeping water costs as low as possible, raising the cost of water for agricultural accounts only as a last resort. The letter also mentions the independent survey conducted by Mitchell Research and Communications late last year, showing the urban rate payers willingness to take rate increases in order to defray the cost of water to farmers.

Re-cap of the June 7th, 2006 Special Board Meeting - The 4 percent ag water increase is voted down.

Susan Petrovich's RE-CAP OF THE MAY 31, 2006 Grower's Meeting - Recommending no rate increases for ag.

Read the May 25th Frontpage Santa Barbara News Press Article by Thomas Schultz: Goleta Delays Decision on Water Rate Increase (356k)

Re-cap of the May 23, 2006, Special Board - Across the board rate increase proposed only two months after the GWD says no rate increases for ag.

Jack Ruskey's objections (12k pdf format) to the proposed rate increase as well as the inadequate notification for the important May 23rd, 2006 meeting.

Additional comments and objections by Jack Ruskey. (32k pdf format)

Download and review the June 7th, 2006 Special Board meeting agenda packet (13MB) at the Goleta Water District Website, where an across the board rate increase is proposed.

Original Draft Agenda sent to the Ag customers by GWD (1.94MB) - On March 6th, 2006 the Goleta Water District Staff released this draft proposal for the Board, recommending that the GWD not, "...make any changes to our existing policy at this time." This Draft Agenda along with the proposed letter was sent out to all of the ag water customers of the district. On March 28th at the GWD Board of Directors special meeting, this recommendation was accepted. We extend our appreciation to the Board for accepting the staff's recommendation and not adopting the tiered rate proposals for agricultural water based on historic averages of water use, as well as a New Water Supply Charge based on historic averages of water use. Read about these proposed policies in the Q and A section on our homepage and see why the community was concerned. We hope to have continuing productive dialogue between the community and the Goleta Water District staff and Board on water issues relating to the support of local agriculture.

Analysis and Comments, by Jack Ruskey, concerning the Special Board of Directors Meeting held on March 28th, 2006.

Copy of email response from Russell Ruiz to Jack Ruskey, Feb. 17, '06 (12K) stating that the taped copy of the November 8th, 2005 Goleta Water District meeting was destroyed (regarding Mr. Ruskey's request for a partial transcript from the meeting). At this meeting a group of over 100 farmers and concerned community members attended and over 30 people spoke against the proposed rate structure offering information and various alternatives for the Board to consider. Download GWD Agenda Memorandum, Agenda NO. 1, November 8th, 2005 (1.8MB) to see what the agricultural community was opposing.

Note: In the March 28th special meeting, the Board announced its decision to, in the future, retain taped transcripts of meetings for at least one year.

Russell Ruiz's letter to Jack Ruskey, March 2, '06 (114k) responding to Mr. Ruskey's request for the Goleta Water District's study on the cost to deliver Ag water to their customers.

Supporting document for the letter above (27k) pertaining to the cost of delivering ag water

Supporting document (17k) regarding the cost of delivering ag water