Agricultural commissioner Ron Ross recommended that the assessment fee for the mosquito abatement program stay the same for 2012-13 during a public hearing June 19, during which San Benito County supervisors concurred.
Ross did say, however, that the fee would likely be recommended to increase next year because the program will need to replace some of the equipment that was originally purchased with state grant money to start the program. Property owners within the district, which includes the northern part of the county, pay $10.08 a year per single family equivalent.
“It can be adjusted up or down based on the consumer price index,” Ross said, nothing that it could be raised up to $10.98 per unit.
The department hired SCI Consulting Group to review the needs for the program and recommend the fee rate for the year.
According to the engineer’s report, there are 11 species of mosquitoes that inhabit areas of San Benito County. The ones that are of most concern to the abatement staff members are those that carry serious diseases such as West Nile virus, St. Louis encephalitis and Western equine encephalitis.
The fee was originally approved by voters within the district in 2007, for a $9.60 assessment per property. The county supervisors at the time pursued the abatement district because a mandate had come down from the state that each county needed to have some sort of mosquito abatement district to curb the increase in such instances as West Nile virus, which was spreading through the state at the time. The county supervisor has the option to fund the program through the general fund or pursue an assessment to cover most of the costs.
Ross said his staff was considering if they want to purchase all new equipment at once or spread the replacement purchases out over a few years to make sure there is money to cover an unanticipated increase in one of the mosquito populations that carries potentially fatal diseases.
“West Nile hasn’t been a problem,” Ross said. “But in the valley, there has been an increase of West Nile virus. We might need to set aside money if we need to do something extraordinary.”
Supervisor Anthony Botelho asked if there was a way for staff members to hold property owners accountable for allowing swimming pools to become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. In addition to monitoring the mosquito populations for diseases, the staff members to outreach to educate residents on how to keep mosquitoes from breeding on their property. But one point of contention has been abandoned pools, many on the property of foreclosed homes.
Ross explained there is a procedure for prosecuting homeowners who do not take care of their property.
“We can take action, but it is cumbersome,” he said.
He said the staff would have to identify the homeowners, come before the board to get permission to send them a letter to announce the holding of a hearing. Then the person would have to attend the hearing, where they would be order to clean up the issue and there would be an additional meeting.
“The procedure lasts three months and by then mosquito season is over,” he said.
Ross said the staff members has been successful in treating what have been referred to as green pools with larvicide if the home is likely to be occupied soon. If it is going to be empty for a longer time, they treat the pool with larvicide and then add mosquito fish to it. He said the staff members had been relying on complaints from neighbors to identify green pools, but recently a company from Livermore did a flyover of Gilroy and San Benito so the mosquito abatement staff would be able to look at the images to identify problem areas.
“We have a very minimal reserve for next year,” Ross said. “We may want to consider raising the fee in case we do find West Nile virus and we need to deal with it.”
He said there were 12 birds found with the disease last year, but so far this year there have been 98.
