Attention Golden State Water Customers
What is Eminent Domain
Going To Cost You?
How much will Casitas Municipal Water District’s plan to seize Golden State
Water Company by eminent domain cost you?
To understand why Casitas has plans to use this extraordinary power of eminent domain
to forcibly acquire private property it simply cannot afford, one needs to ask who is
promoting this risky plan, who benefits and who loses!
Who is Promoting this Risky Plan?
Food and Water Watch is a national organization that trains and organizes local activists
under the banner of Friends of Locally Owned Water (F.L.O.W.). Food and Water Watch is
not a consumer group, but rather a political organization that targets California agriculture
and water rights. Now Ojai F.L.O.W. has launched an aggressive campaign to convince the
Casitas Municipal Water District Board of Directors to seize Golden State Water Company
and its water rights by eminent domain.
Broken Promises
Is it possible to acquire a water company worth millions of dollars, while slashing water
bills at the same time?
In Felton, California, F.L.O.W. activists promised residents lower water bills. Residents
were told that acquiring the local water system by eminent domain would cost as little
as $2 million. However, the final takeover ultimately cost $13.4 million – 670% more than
original estimates. As a result, customers are paying $535 more a year in property taxes to
repay the 30-year bond to takeover the system, and their water rates have been increased
three times. Under current Felton rates, a typical Ojai customer would pay $103 a month –
$28 more than Ojai’s current rates.*
So Many Questions, So Few Answers
At the urging of Ojai F.L.O.W., the Casitas Municipal Water District has taken the initial
steps to seize Golden State Water Company’s property without knowing two important
factors: How much it will cost? And how much will you pay for it?
Moreover, Ojai F.L.O.W. is continuing down the course of qualifying a taxpayerfinanced water bond, even though they admit that their feasibility study was not
prepared by independent experts!
“Golden State is correct in stating that Ojai F.L.O.W.’S financing
method was not prepared by an expert in municipal financing.”
- Richard Hajas, Ojai F.L.O.W. Director, 10.5.11 Ojai Valley News
Unless Casitas increases taxes and water rates on Ojai residents to pay off a 30-year
water bond, Ojai F.L.O.W.’s risky plan is not feasible.
Again, consider Felton’s experience before endorsing a risky plan of broken promises that
raises so many questions and offers so few answers!
Eminent Domain Abuse
Eminent domain should not be used to promote a political agenda favored by Food and
Water Watch, a special interest group that opposes private water rights. If this occurs, a
special interest group wins while Ojai taxpayers lose!
This is why California’s leading property rights organization urges the Casitas Municipal
Water District to abandon an Ojai water grab that will only lead to higher water bills and
taxes.
It is not too late for Casitas to reverse course.
www.CalPropertyRights.com
*70% of Ojai residents have 5/8-inch connections and an average monthly use of 8,976 gallons.
Paid for by the California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights, www.CalPropertyRights.com
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