Thanks in large part to the foresight and sense of fairness of
area officials and Sen. Bruce McPherson, R-Santa Cruz, the door has
been shut
– although not deadbolted and hermetically sealed – on the
hare-brained plan of some Santa Cruz County officials to tax San
Benito and Santa Clara counties residents for Pajaro River levee
maintenance.
Thanks in large part to the foresight and sense of fairness of area officials and Sen. Bruce McPherson, R-Santa Cruz, the door has been shut – although not deadbolted and hermetically sealed – on the hare-brained plan of some Santa Cruz County officials to tax San Benito and Santa Clara counties residents for Pajaro River levee maintenance.
In a 4-4 deadlock, a proposal before the Pajaro River Watershed Protection Authority to change a letter to the California Department of Water Resources in a way that would make it appear San Benito and Santa Clara counties were partially responsible for Pajaro River flooding was not approved.
Why is that outcome due to McPherson’s foresight and sense of fair play?
Because McPherson, despite the fact that he calls Santa Cruz County home, refused to support a bill that would have stacked the Pajaro River Watershed Protection Authority with more representatives from Santa Cruz and Monterey counties and fewer from San Benito and Santa Clara counties.
Instead, McPherson supported a later bill that gave an equal voice to each of the four counties represented on the Pajaro River Watershed Protection Authority.
So we pass along a hearty hooray for McPherson, who represented all of us well.
But we also caution residents and officials in San Benito and Santa Clara counties: while the levee tax idea is down for now, it may not be out for good. We need to be vigilant and make sure our elected representatives in Sacramento know we’re watching to make sure the proposal doesn’t rear its ugly head again.
If it does, we have a hare-brained proposal of our own: if there’s too much water heading down the Pajaro River, how about we build a dam, say at the San Benito County line, and start charging those counties for “our” water.
Hardly seems fair, does it? Well, it’s just as fair as charging San Benito and Santa Clara counties residents for levee maintenance in Santa Cruz County.
Kudos to area officials for their foresight and sense of fair play. Let’s all try to keep that in mind when looking for solutions to the Pajaro River flooding, rather than trying to unfairly tax residents of another county.
