Amador County – In late April, the Amador Water Agency board of directors voted to oppose the California Water Resources Investment Act, in part because it was an “unfunded mandate.”

AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo at the late April meeting said the directors “voted to join other water agency coalition groups” in opposing California Senate Bill 34, which would enact the California Water Resources Investment Act of 2011. Mancebo told the board that the act would be an unfunded mandate, and it “would impose an assessment on each acre-foot of water sold for residential and agricultural use.”

He said the “bill initially proposed an assessment of $110 per acre-foot of residential use and for each acre of agricultural irrigation,” with the funds generated to be used “to finance a water resources investment program.”

Mancebo said the “dollar amount has been removed from the current version of the bill, but Directors discussed the negative impact of any assessment on Agency water rates, and voted 5-0 to send a letter in opposition.”

Also in the late April meeting, the AWA board of directors declared eight of its trucks as surplus and will sell the trucks through the Agency’s surplus property process. The used vehicles, dating from 1996 to 2001, will be offered for sale first to other government agencies and then to the general public, per a new agency policy approved by the new board. Any trucks not sold at that point will be offered for sale to Agency employees.

A list of the surplus vehicles is available by contacting Cris Thompson or Barry Birge at the Amador Water Agency, at (209) 223-3018.

The AWA board of directors today has two special meetings that will occur before the regular meeting. One, which was announced yesterday, is to discuss Proposition 84 grant implementation, relative to the Urban Water Management Plan, that would be created in conjunction with the East Bay Municipal Utility District. The special meeting is set for 1:30 p.m. today.

The board also was to have a special budget meeting starting at 8 a.m. today to talk about the 2011-2012 fiscal year budget, and the fiscal year capital improvement projects. They also were to discuss fixed asset review, and receive a cash flow projections report.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.