Amador Water Agency: We’ll Pay Our Fair Share For LAFCO But Not More Than County

Tuesday, 29 May 2007 00:37

Amador Water Agency: We’ll Pay Our Fair Share For LAFCO But Not More Than County

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Last Thursday the AWA board of directors reviewed a request to fund up to $10,000 toward the Local Agency Formation Commission’s Municipal Service Review. LAFCO Executive Officer Roseanne Chamberlin was present to further explain to the Board what the Municipal Service Review (MSR) is. The MSR is required by the Government Code she explained and includes service reviews of agencies for whom LAFCO sets boundaries and a sphere of influence. “…because other private and government entities are also integrated in the organization of services provided by local governments, they are included in the descriptive sections of the report,” said Chamberlin.

Typically these reports are organized into to two sections with the first section consisting of a description of all the service providers and the relationship among them. The second part includes analysis “limited to those agencies for whom LAFCO sets a sphere of influence,” said Chamberlin who added that, “An understanding of the broader service delivery system is essential background for making the required determinations for the Service Review and ultimately on each spheres.” LAFCO is somewhat behind in the process, as it appears a comprehensive list of all the agencies that are subject to the MSR does not exist, so the first step is to identify all the private or public entities which are not required to have spheres of influence set by LAFCO. Since the agency is a public agency that will be reviewed under the MSR, LAFCO is requesting that the agency help fund the project which Chamberlin expects will be quite costly at possibly $85,000 or more.

LAFCO has solicited participation from the cities and they have committed to funding 75% of the estimated total cost of $75,000-$100,000. Chamberlin said the County has agreed to participate with funding 5% not to exceed $5,000 and she was requesting that the Agency fund $10,000, which Director Heinz Hamaan worked out to be approximately 12% of the project cost of the study. This is where the Director’s did not sit easy with the request. Hamaan said he did not feel it was fair that the County was only contributing to 5% when they will clearly benefit more from the study than the agency would. He made it clear that he has no problem matching the County’s contribution, but he did not agree with contributing more than them. The rest of the Board seemed to be in agreement. Chamberlin did point out at one point, that while most agencys complete these reports in piece-meal phases LAFCO is doing it all at once which presents a significant savings of about 30% she estimates. Therefore if funds are not needed they will be returned. After discussing the matter further in consensus the board agreed to match the county’s funds not to exceed $10,000.