• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice
  • Arts
  • Education
  • Environment
  • History
  • Nature
  • Politics
  • Wit
  • About

MID Falling Water Charge: Subsidy or Slush Fund?

October 21, 2012 By Eric Caine 3 Comments

 

Falling Red Ink?

According to Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini, news that local farmers have been receiving subsidies amounting to $89 million over seventeen years was as big a surprise to farmers as to anyone else.“Ninety-nine out of a hundred farmers have never heard of the Falling Water Charge,” said DeMartini last Friday.The Falling Water Charge is the controversial fee (some would say “tax”) that the Modesto Irrigation District (MID) imposes on electrical rate payers. The Modesto Bee has persisted in calling the fee a subsidy, but the MID Board of Directors may be hard-pressed to convince skeptical observers that the hidden cost really does subsidize farmers.

The MID’s own attorney recently noted that, “MID has not made an effort to identify the costs incurred by the Irrigation Division in providing water for the generation of hydroelectric power to the Electrical Division.” In fact, said the attorney in another passage, “the Falling Water Charge can (and almost certainly does) go up without a corresponding increase in costs incurred by the Irrigation Division.”

MID Director Tom Van Groningen would have MID rate payers believe that the recent proposal to sell water to San Francisco was an effort to cover shortfalls brought about by subsidizing the Irrigation District. That argument seems far-fetched to those who’ve watched the MID enter into a series of ill-advised ventures, including extending service into the Mountain House district, that ended up costing millions of dollars. Those expenses are major factors in the MID’s financial problems.

Van Groningen argued recently that the MID knew it had to raise water rates to farmers but couldn’t get enough Directors to support the increases. That’s news to close observers of the water sale controversy, who witnessed many farmers agree that higher rates were preferable to selling water to San Francisco.

In the Falling Water Charge memorandum, the MID’s attorney also noted than even though the Falling Water Charge is supposed to address issues like maintenance, the MID has never enumerated the costs of such maintenance. That may be because the MID has failed to use money generated by the Falling Water Charge for maintenance. Remember, the MID claimed a major reason for the water sale was the need for maintenance and upgrades of the irrigation system.

Wayne Zipser, Executive Director of the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, said Friday that the MID, “has a fiduciary responsibility to charge enough for water to cover the costs of delivering it.” Zipser also noted that the MID never mentioned the Falling Water Charge during the water sale controversy.

Almost anyone with even a remote interest in the water sale controversy will agree that water rates to farmers have been far too low. Most farmers also agree and are willing to pay higher rates. But the MID will find it more than difficult to convince farmers and close observers that its financial troubles have been the result of subsidies to farmers.

In fact, it is going to take some very specific answers from the MID to explain why it has failed to list costs supposedly involved in calculating the Falling Water Charge, failed to explain why the Falling Water Charge fluctuates so wildly from year to year,  and failed to explain why the MID didn’t raise the problem of the Falling Water Charge during the water sale controversy.

Some people will even wonder where the $89 million generated by the Falling Water Charge has gone, if not for maintenance and improvement of the irrigation delivery systems. They might even ask the MID to explain the difference between a subsidy and a slush fund.

 

 

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: MID Falling Water Charge, Modesto Irrigation District Water Sale

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Chris Gulick says

    October 22, 2012 at 2:04 am

    Keep it up Mr. Caine.
    I’m betting you couldn’t drive a greased needle up the backsides of the MID board members.
    Either they need to cough up some accurate answers or heads should roll.

    Reply
    • Eric Caine says

      October 22, 2012 at 2:50 am

      Heads might be rolling already. Tuesday’s MID agenda includes approval for search of a General Counsel. Is Tim O’Laughlin gone? He hasn’t exactly distinguished himself with a series of bad contracts and what looks like a flurry of lawsuits to come.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. The Valley Citizen - Nature Environment Politics History Editorials says:
    February 8, 2013 at 1:55 am

    […] That was doubtless the motive for suppressing documents revealing the MID’s problems with its Falling Water Charge and the Farm Bureau’s objections to the water sale on legal […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Note: Some comments may be held for moderation.

Primary Sidebar

Off The Wire

Oath Keepers leader Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
Oath Keepers leader Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes faces a prison sentence up to 25 years in the first punishments for seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
www.washingtonpost.com
Opinion | America?s Poverty Is Built by Design
Opinion | America’s Poverty Is Built by Design
How did the U.S. become a land of economic extremes with the rich getting richer while the working poor grind it out? Deliberately.
www.politico.com
Republican Jewish Coalition Blasts Gosar Over Staffer's Ties To White Supremacist: Fuentes Has 'No Place' In Congress
Republican Jewish Coalition Blasts Gosar Over Staffer’s Ties To White Supremacist: Fuentes Has ‘No Place’ In Congress
The Republican Jewish Coalition slammed Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) following a  TPM…
talkingpointsmemo.com
Newsom restores floodplain funds, adds $290 million to flood control budget
Newsom restores floodplain funds, adds $290 million to flood control budget
After widespread, bipartisan criticism, the governor revised his budget to include $40 million to restore San Joaquin Valley floodplains.
calmatters.org
New Study Finds a High Minimum Wages Creates Jobs
New Study Finds a High Minimum Wages Creates Jobs
Conventional wisdom had long suggested the opposite.
nymag.com
Spiraling in San Francisco?s Doom Loop
Spiraling in San Francisco’s Doom Loop
What it’s like to live in a city that no longer believes its problems can be fixed.
www.curbed.com
San Diego to open homeless camp sites at two parking lots near Balboa Park
San Diego to open homeless camp sites at two parking lots near Balboa Park
The two lots could accommodate about 500 tents and would be an alternative to congregate shelters
www.sandiegouniontribune.com
K-12 enrollment: Does the increase in homeless students indicate a worsening trend?
K-12 enrollment: Does the increase in homeless students indicate a worsening trend?
California’s overall K-12 enrollment declined, but a lack of affordable housing may be fueling an increase in homeless students.
calmatters.org
Sugar Justice: The Clarence Thomas Story
Sugar Justice: The Clarence Thomas Story
Did you see the latest Clarence Thomas bombshell? To head off any…
talkingpointsmemo.com
California's colossal snowpack has yet to melt: 'Less and less places for that water to go'
California’s colossal snowpack has yet to melt: ‘Less and less places for that water to go’
Only about 12 inches of Caliornia’s snow water equivalent melted in April, leaving most of the Sierra Nevada snowpack poised to flow down downhill.
www.latimes.com
The fastest-growing homeless population? Seniors
The fastest-growing homeless population? Seniors
Included in the increasing number of homeless seniors are those experiencing homelessness for the first time after age 50.
calmatters.org
Perspective | The greatest bird artist you?ve never heard of
Perspective | The greatest bird artist you’ve never heard of
Rex Brasher painted more birds than Audubon, and he never owned slaves.
www.washingtonpost.com

Find us on Facebook

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Footer

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Subscribe for Free

* indicates required

Search

• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 The Valley Citizen

Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Editor and publisher: Eric Caine

Website customization and maintenance by Susan Henley Design