Posted on 07/22/2025 3:53:07 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Residents in San Benito County have been paying a water tax since 1977 for imported water, but a civil grand jury report claims the tax is outdated and should have ended in 2017, prompting calls for the issue to be put back on the ballot.
Justin Harnois, a taxpayer, expressed frustration, saying, "It makes me feel pretty frustrated. You know, nobody wants to throw their money into things that they don't understand or aren't aware of."
Advertisement The tax was initially approved to pay off a $19.9 million federal loan for imported water to address local shortages and support a growing community.
Harnois added, "It's a bigger issue of tax reform. If they're spending their money on other things that us taxpayers are paying for, then we should not only know that, but it should be put back on the ballot for us to be able to vote on."
Dana Jacobson, general manager of the San Benito County Water District, disagrees with the grand jury's findings.
"The grand jury report is not necessarily accurate. And it's not a clear representation of what we do here at the district. Our records are incredibly clear," Jacobson said. The district maintains that the tax has no expiration date and funds ongoing maintenance and operations of the system.
Jacobson explained, "Without that water that comes in from the Central Valley project from San Luis Reservoir, there wouldn't be a high enough quality of water to deliver to the municipal customers and the agricultural customers as well."
Jacobson warned, "If the tax goes away, it would be a really bad thing because all those costs would need to be recovered through water rates, and the water rates would become uneconomical for most people."
For families struggling with rising costs, the issue is personal.
Harnois noted, "Groceries, gas. I mean, the way inflation has hit, right? We have a family and a lot of more important things to be, you know, utilizing those funds for sure."
The grand jury is now recommending an independent audit and that the water tax be put back on the ballot.
It’s like the telephone tax that paid for the Spanish-American War. The war ended in 1898, but the tax ended in 2006.
I think it was early this century that it was repealed after the feds got caught still charging the tax.
Jacobson doesn't seem to think well.
It will be paid by the water hikes to the same extent the tax did, unless there's something else going on.
It's worse in California where many of these tax receipts are managed by various leftist NGOs who then distribute the money as they see fit (typically to themselves for "administrative costs" and to Democrat politicians to keep the grift going).
Shutting off the spigot to these various NGO grifters was what I was most excited about with regards to the Trump/Musk/Doge partnership but it seems to have fizzled.
Yep, residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast are still paying a tax levy from 1927 on the seawall that was paid off in the 1940s
So, this water debt tax is now being used to subsidize water rates?? Probably pensions, too. Similar to the mostly empty, giant electric city buses here which are subsidized with property taxes. Governments are very inept at charity.
There is never a toll or tax that ends.
The closest thing to eternal life on this earth is a TAX.
They repealed it, but then brought it back under the name of “Universal Service Fund”.
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