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NCSD settles on water system merger fee

By Mike Hodgson/Associate Editor

Nipomo Community Services District directors and Blacklake representatives finally settled on a proposed equity surcharge for merging the Town and Blacklake divisions’ water systems.

In a unanimous vote last week, NCSD directors approved a proposed fee of $436.70 aimed at balancing Blacklake’s contribution with the Town Division’s equity in a combined system.

If ultimately approved, Blacklake residents would have the option of paying the fee up-front as a lump sum or paying it off at $15 every two months for 10 years, said NCSD General Manager Bruce Buel.

The fee was hammered out by an ad hoc committee consisting of board President Mike Winn and Director Jim Harrison, who met Oct. 29 with four representatives of the Blacklake Village Master Association board of directors.

All four agreed to support the proposed surcharge determined through a spread sheet of Blacklake water system improvements, with a contribution to operating reserves.

But whether the surcharge goes into effect will depend upon the majority of Blacklake residents.

Buel said directors will hold a public hearing at the Nov. 26 meeting to introduce an ordinance setting the surcharge and to potentially set a protest hearing for Jan. 28.

“If the board sets the hearing for the 28th, we’ll mail notices to Blacklake property owners in early December,” Buel said. “That will give a 45-day window for the Blacklake folks to protest, if they wish to do so.”

During that 45-day period, Blacklake property owners can send written protests to the district, or they can deliver them in person at the protest hearing.

If 50 percent plus one of the Blacklake property owners protest the fee, it could not be instituted.

In a report to the board, Buel said the “staff believes such a majority protest would indicate that Blacklake is not willing to pay for the merger of the two systems and that the district should either remove or inactivate the 8-inch intertie installed on an emergency basis to facilitate the merger.”

Buel said before the intertie pipeline is taken out of service, NCSD would have to use remaining Blacklake water fund reserves to replumb the transfer pump and reactivate the hydro-pneumatic tank that provides pressurized water to the community.

Director Ed Eby said “disconnecting Blacklake from the Town Division 8-inch emergency intertie (would leave Blacklake) with less emergency fire flow capability as a stand-alone system.”

But Buel said a second alternative would be to design a new upgraded system that would be fully compliant with regulations that mandate specific water flows for firefighting purposes.

Blacklake residents then would have the opportunity to protest the fees they would be charged to pay for that fully upgraded system, which both district and Blacklake residents have said would be cost-prohibitive.

mhodgson@theadobepress.com