Opinion: $1,287,500 for recreation: use it or lose it!

Paul Perkovic is Board President of the Montara Water and Sanitary District, however this article reflects his individual views and does not indicate a position of the District.

We can spend our local tax money on recreation, or we can let it wither away. With the failure of Measure O in the recent election, there is no guaranteed source of funds for Coastside recreation.

Today, a portion of your 1% property tax money offsets costs of your water and sewer service, called "enterprise operations" because they are operated like a business on a fee-for-service basis. But Sacramento has its eyes on that local tax money to help solve the state budget crisis. There may be time to keep up to $1,287,500 a year in the community, for local recreation uses, if we act promptly and responsibly.

If that property tax revenue were not available - or were re-allocated for a "non-enterprise purpose" - your water and sewer rates would go up from 7.7% to 32.8%, according to the recent Midcoast Municipal Service Review. Earlier this year, the Legislative Analyst Office in Sacramento proposed diverting tax money from water and sanitary districts. Fortunately, at least for this year, it seems that proposal is dead. But bad ideas have a history of coming back over and over, until they finally overwhelm opposition.

Nobody wants to see increased water and sewer rates, but we are facing two alternatives: (1) Voluntarily re-allocate property tax funds to recreation uses and raise rates on enterprise operations, or (2) Wait for Sacramento to take those property tax monies away from the local districts and be forced to raise rates on enterprise operations anyway.

In the first alternative, we will have higher rates and local recreation funding; in the second alternative, we will still have higher rates, but the money vanishes for some budget deficit reduction scheme that Sacramento dreams up - not for local uses.

Granada Sanitary District has proposed reorganizing itself as a Community Services District so that it can also provide recreation services. Montara Water and Sanitary District already has authority to provide recreation services, and is considering a proposal to activate those powers. These two districts together, which serve the Midcoast, have about $687,500 per year available from your property taxes.

The remaining $600,000 a year goes to Coastside County Water District, which right now is more interested in consolidating all of the local special districts on the coast. Chances are consolidation would result in so many immediate operational problems that there would be no interest in recreation among a consolidated board focused on building more infrastructure to support development.

What does the community want? If we do nothing, Sacramento will find a way to take the property tax revenue away from enterprise operations eventually.