Groundwater Charge Rate Calculation Per Proposition 26

Since 1979, the Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District (District) has calculated groundwater charge rates as prescribed by the California Water Code section 75594.  Section 75594 requires that the groundwater charge rate for non-agricultural (Other) water be not less than three (3) times nor more than five (5) times the rate for Agricultural water.  On May 26, 2022,  the Court of Appeal issued a published decision (City of Buenaventura v. United Water Conservation District (2022) 79 Cal.App.5th 110) ruling Water Code section 75594 unconstitutional, thus requiring that the groundwater charge rates of Water Conservation Districts like ours be determined consistent with the requirements prescribed in Proposition 26.  Proposition 26 was added to the California Constitution (Cal. Const., Art. XIIIC, § 1) by voter approved initiative measure.  Proposition 26 requires that the amount of the charge is “no more than necessary to cover the reasonable costs of the governmental activity, and that the manner in which those costs are allocated to a payor bear a fair or reasonable relationship to the payor’s burdens on, or benefits received from, the governmental activity.”

Each year, Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District hires an independent rate consultant to prepare a Rate Study Report for the Board of Directors to use when determining groundwater production rates per zone for the upcoming fiscal year, in compliance with Proposition 26 – as required by the Court Decision.