A conflict over water has two North County water agencies looking to leave the San Diego County Water Authority. And, an investigation into payments made to board members of the Ramona Cemetery District has led to funds being returned.
S1: This week on Kpbs Roundtable. Two water agencies want to leave the San Diego Water Authority to buy cheaper water , but opponents say it will only increase bills for the rest of the San Diego region. It's being dubbed the county's water divorce.
S1: And we're going to dive into that more in a little bit. But Alex , we know that there was a vote last month to allow Fallbrook and Rainbow to actually leave the County Water Authority. And a reminder , that's the 24 partner agency that we were talking about earlier. Here's what one farmer , Nick Koenig , told you.
S1: And we know that these are like farming communities up there. And is the idea that the customers are saying that it's just too expensive , the water here and we want to go get cheaper water elsewhere. S1: So it sounds like they're kind of saying like that you guys partially own this debt. Is that kind of what they're saying ? Yeah.
S2: It was studied like what happens if water authority loses two of their 24 water agencies In terms of San Diego's voting power at the larger Metropolitan Water District , which is based in LA , and that's where like Orange County , Los Angeles and San Diego all are sort of kind of like a bigger version of the San Diego County Water Authority are also like arguing over what to build to prevent drought and all of this other stuff and the cost of water up there , which affects us down...
S1: And Mckenzi , let's get into this. You know , AB 399 , not to make this more complicated for people who are listening , but it sounds like it's a proposed bill that could make it harder for any water district to separate from the Regional Water Authority. S1: And McKenzie , before we go any further , we've heard the term Lafco mentioned a few times there , like some sort of boundary agency , right ? I mean , what role do they play in here ? Are they like the ultimate green lighters or the people that would put up the red light.
S2: We can hash it out over a series of other talks , but there's no impact really , to San Diego. The people who are bearing the biggest brunt are farmers over in Imperial Valley. They've agreed to conserve more water on their farms in exchange for some money from the federal government in order to do some conservation projects and pay for all that infrastructure that makes it easier to farm with less water.
S2: But City San Diego , I think , is facing like a 10% increase in 2023 and then another 8.7% come 2025. That's all somewhat based on the San Diego County Water Authority is the is the one that sets kind of like a giant rate increase. And then how each of the individual 24 water districts handle that is different. It depends on their finances , depends on their demand , depends on like what other projects they have going forward.
S1: And so you started digging into the Ramona Cemetery district and you found that board members there , they're part time. They have monthly meetings that last about an hour each. It sounds like they were getting some large payouts for health insurance premiums. S1: And earlier , you mentioned that it was a Ramona resident actually , who serves on San Diego County's audit committee , who first started , you know , raising these questions about the health care costs.
S1: Your investigation culminated with you actually going to one of the Ramona Cemetery board meetings. And if people haven't seen the video story , they really need to check it out because there you are confronting board members about these hundreds of thousands of dollars in health benefits over the years.
S1: Then in another twist , the board decides to call a special meeting , and that's in mid-August. And that ultimately resulted in taxpayers getting back hundreds of thousands of dollars. S7: So far , so good. You're right. I have two kids in San Diego Unified. It got a late start because of the storm. But first day went off without a hitch on Tuesday. And both my kids started a new school. So it was kind of one of those things. You never know where it's going to go. But last week we did talk about the schools reopening and the new school year.
S1: And I think that was one of the things when we recently had our roundtable about Sandag , the San Diego Association of Governments and their CEO , that was one of the projects that he was pushing for. Right. Is expanding that border crossing.S1: And I think the San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that's $134 million expansion. All right.
S1: It'll be interesting to see if things and I think the story mentioned it if you know incentives to build things like adus or accessory dwelling units , granny flats , they're called sometimes if that has any impact on all this. S1: Myself , Ricardo Campos and a small part of my team have been looking at all viable options up and down the coast for us to find solutions for academy , for training facilities , for stadiums from Oceanside down to the border. We've looked at everything and left no stone unturned.
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