SACRAMENTO – The Department of Water Resources (DWR) is initially approving 427,167 acre-feet (AF) of Table A water for the long-term State Water Project (SWP) contractors in 2020. SWP supplies are projected to meet 10 percent of most SWP contractors’
requests for Table A water, which total 4,172,786 AF. Click here to read more.
Pass area property owners are going to see a reduction in their property tax bill this year. The San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency voted to lower its property tax rate by a half cent, from 18.25 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to 17.75 cents. The reduction will result in about $650,000 being returned to property owners this year alone. That equates to $20 a year for a $400,000 house. Click here to read more.
The San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency has struck a deal to bring even more State Water Project water to the Pass this year. Its Board has voted to approve an exchange agreement with the City of Ventura and the Casitas Municipal Water District to deliver an additional 2000 acre-feet of water from the Project in 2019. That is enough for approximately 4000 families for a year. Click here to read more.
No landing here; birds and airports do not mix! San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, in collaboration with San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency, has come up with a solution that will not only protect the birds and aircraft but will also prevent algae buildup and reduce evaporation from the reservoir.
Residents of Beaumont will see a new construction project as they drive through the intersection of Beaumont Avenue and Brookside. The San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency is constructing a new groundwater recharge facility at the site. Construction will begin the week of April 23.
The facility is required to increase reliability of imported water supplies and to help meet increasing local demands. “We have recently obtained some new water supplies for the region, and are negotiating to obtain some more. We need to have a place to store this water locally”, said David Fenn, a Beaumont real estate broker who is Board President. “This facility will enable us to store the water underground.” Click here to read more…
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and local partners today commemorated the completion of a project to extend the State Water Project’s East Branch Aqueduct to bring additional supplies to communities in eastern San Bernardino County.
The East Branch Extension was designed and built in partnership with the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District and San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency. The extension allows local water managers to further diversify their water portfolios, making them more resilient and better able to meet the challenges of a variable and changing climate. In addition to providing direct water deliveries to communities, the extension also will deliver water to groundwater spreading basins to recharge area aquifers. Click here to read more…
REDLANDS – The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and local partners today commemorated the completion of a project to extend the State Water Project’s East Branch Aqueduct to bring additional supplies to communities in eastern San Bernardino County. Click here to read more…
SACRAMENTO – The Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced today that it is increasing the allocation of 2018 State Water Project (SWP) water. Based on the recent precipitation, runoff, and current water supply condition, SWP supplies are projected to be 20% of most SWP contractors’ 2018 requested Table A amounts. Click here to read more.
SACRAMENTO – The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today announced an initial water allocation of 15 percent for most State Water Project (SWP) contractors for the 2018 calendar year. That allocation will likely change depending on rain and snowfall received this winter. Click here to read more.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 14, 2017
The San Gorgonio Pass Board of Directors voted last week to reduce its property tax by a quarter cent, from $0.185 to $0.1825 per $100 of assessed valuation. The reduction will return over $300,000 to local property owners this year alone.
“We have been working proactively with the California Department of Water Resources for the past several years to do everything possible to reduce our debt service costs on the State Water Project, and those efforts are starting to pay off” said David Fenn, Board President and a Beaumont real estate broker. “With some large debt service balloon payments coming up in a few years, we want to make sure that we have the reserves on hand to pay them without raising taxes further, but we feel confident that we can return some money to local property owners and still make those balloon payments”, Fenn said.
The property tax imposed by the Agency, granted prior to Proposition 13 in 1978, is used to pay for debt service, operations, and maintenance costs for the State Water Project. The Agency purchases water from the California Department of Water Resources and conveys it through the California Aqueduct to sell to retail water agencies, who use it to replenish local groundwater basins. Without the imported water, those basins would not be sustainable sources of water.
The reduction is the first for the Agency since 1992. The tax rate started a gradual increase after that to cover the cost of constructing the East Branch Extension, the 20-mile pipeline that brings State Water Project water to the Pass from its delivery point in San Bernardino. The project was constructed in two phases and construction is being completed this summer. From 2000 through last year, the Board raised the rate only once to cover these construction costs, in 2011.
Many State Water Contractors, as agencies who purchase water through the Project are called, utilize property taxes to pay all or part of the debt service and operations and maintenance costs for the Project, which began construction in the 1960’s. These costs total over $1 billion per year. The San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency is one of only 29 such agencies in the State. Together, they must pay the $1 billion each year. The State General Fund is not used to pay for any part of the State Water Project.
The rate reduction will result in a cost savings for a $300,000 home of $7.50 per year. “We know that’s not a lot of money to some people, but we believe this will be the first of a series of reductions over the next several years, and we wanted to get started sooner rather than later,” said Fenn.
The San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency is a regional water supplier, wholesale water agency, and State Water Contractor who purchases water from the California Department of Water Resources, conveys it several hundred miles through the California Aqueduct, and sells it to local retail water agencies to replenish groundwater basins in the Pass. Its service area includes the cities of Calimesa, Beaumont, and Banning, as well as the incorporated areas of Cherry Valley, Cabazon, the Banning Bench, and Poppet Flat.
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For further information, contact Jeff Davis, General Manager, at 951/845-2577, or via email at jdavis@sgpwa.com.
