Los Osos votes to build sewer
Friday October 26th, 2007 - 11:19:26 am
Dan Reddell Email
Friday, Oct 26, 2007
Posted on Fri, Oct. 26, 2007
An emphatic ‘yes’ in Los Osos
Sona Patel
Los Osos property owners have overwhelmingly approved a property tax to pay for a long-awaited, contentious sewer in the coastal town, according to unofficial vote results announced Thursday.
The county Clerk-Recorder’s Office finished counting the 6,093 ballots shortly before 5:30 p.m. The results— 79.6 percent of votes in favor and 20.3 percent against — were announced immediately to a handful of spectators.
That margin signals an end to a decades-long ordeal in the town of 14,000, county officials and local lawmakers said.
“This vote ends 30 years of conflict and controversy,” said Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo. “The community demonstrated enormous courage and unequivocally showed that they’re ready to move forward.”
Blakeslee brokered the plan that turned over preliminary design and construction of the sewer to the county. The plan was approved last year by the state Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The election could result in construction of a sewer starting in 2010.
County officials expect that homeowners would see the first installment of the assessment on property tax bills by December 2009.
Most homeowners would be assessed about $25,000. That could be paid in a lump sum, though officials expect most would pay in twice-annual installments of $960 for 30 years.
Larger homes and most commercial properties would pay more, while condos and mobile homes pay less.
The election was a key hurdle to determining whether the county would move forward with building a sewer.
It’s expected to stave off fines and orders from state water quality regulators to stop disposing waste into septic tanks.
For decades, regulators have been pushing Los Osos to build a sewer. They blame individual septic tank systems for nitrate pollution of the groundwater and Morro Bay.
Had property owners denied the tax, responsibility for the project would have reverted to the bankrupt Los Osos Community Services District under Blakeslee’s plan.
Assessment opponent Pam Ochs of Los Osos felt property owners were coerced into voting in favor of the tax because of the state’s threats of enforcement and fines if a sewer isn’t built.
“Many won’t have a clue what is going to hit them until the bills start showing up in the mail in 2009,” said Ochs, who was among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the services district over the legality of a state loan for a previous sewer project.
“With homeowners given an ultimatum, not a choice, between being fined out of their homes or taxed out of their homes, I would say fear won,” she said.
The regional water board earlier this year considered a plan to issue several thousand stop orders throughout the town that would force people to unhook from their septic tanks by 2011 or face stiff fines.
The board agreed to hold off on the stop orders to give the county time to show how it’s making progress on the sewer.
“We’re looking forward to getting the project going,” said Harvey Packard, enforcement chief for the state’s Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Packard said the board doesn’t expect to issue new stop orders before December, which is when the regional board could decide how to proceed.
Strong voter turnout
Of the approximately 8,700 ballots sent to property owners in the Proposition 218-mandated election, almost 6,100 were turned in — that’s nearly 70 percent.
Votes were weighted according to how much tax each property would be levied.
“The turnout was strong,” said county Supervisor Bruce Gibson, who represents Los Osos, before the last votes were counted. “But it doesn’t surprise me.…I had faith that folks would pay attention.”
Sevices district board member Joe Sparks said the passage would help the town focus on other pressing issues.
“I think they’re emphatic results that show that they want to get the wastewater issue resolved,” Sparks said. “It’s a message to our district that we need to focus on fire, water and getting this bankruptcy resolved.”
The district filed for bankruptcy protection in August 2006 to stave off creditors as it figures out how to pay more than $45 million in debts.
That includes $6.5 million owed from a state loan for the project scrapped in 2005.
Schwarzenegger’s signature message on Blakeslee’s bill called for it to be paid back before the county could get a low-interest state loan — the cheapest financing for a sewer.
Gibson said the high voter turnout and strong approval in this election would likely help the county show skeptics that the community is prepared to get a sewer in the ground.
The county Board of Supervisors is expected to certify the election results Nov. 6.

© 2007 San Luis Obispo Tribune and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.sanluisobispo.com

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