NOTE: After I wrote this piece, I saw today’s paper –
the “residents” were unable to stop the board from assessing the tax. I still have some problems with this “district” – which has never been approved by the voters. Read on, and please send your thoughts.
Wednesday night, Vina Groundwater Sustainability Agency held their board meeting and public hearing regarding a proposed per acre fee for properties located in their “district”. But, as of now, I can’t find any news of how the balloting went.
I have been exploring their website – here’s the board:
https://www.vinagsa.org/board-members
I had no idea until now that my city of Chico council rep is a member of the Vina agency board. This whole affair has been kept pretty closed.
I had a confusing response from the county staffer assigned to this agency –
Thank you so much for getting the word out! I am not familiar with Debbie Presson with the City of Chico, my contact there is usually Linda Herman, the Administrative Manager for the City. Linda is Chico’s Member Agency Management team member, and she reports information to Chico Councilmember Kami Denlay. Kami is Chico’s Board member for the Vina GSA.
The first thing I’m hearing is that there’s a “Chico Member Agency Management Team”, including Linda Herman, and who else? Furthermore, Denlay is no longer a city council member and is not listed as a member of the VGSA board. And they accuse me of spreading misinformation!
How does Evan Tuchinsky rate as a “stakeholder” – aren’t we all “stakeholders“? How was this whole board set up? By the county of Butte, who is just doing an end run around a ballot measure.
I asked the county gal about the results of the balloting – am I the last one to know? Anybody got any clues? I’ll get back with any response from the county staffer, but that probably won’t be until Monday because today is Flex Friday.
Chico Taxpayers Association 
Juanita,
Yesterday afternoon (7/27/23) the Wyandotte GSA held their public protest hearing at the Oroville City Council Chambers. The entire meeting can be viewed on YouTube at “07.27.23 Wyandotte Creek GSA”. Some key takeaways from this protest hearing are:
(1) of the 5000+ residents, many did not receive their protest notifications via US Mail;
(2) the vote was structured such that if you do nothing, it’s considered a “yes” vote in favor of the fee;
(3) for ALL GSA’s throughout the state, the constitutionality of this fee (tax) has yet to be tested, on its face it appears unconstitutional.
(4) a manager will be hired (as a county employee) at full salary to manage this GSA.
(5) Gavin Newsom misspent $2B in COVID money (his staff paid $2B in unemployment benefits to prison inmates, money that has yet to be recouped) yet California cannot pay for groundwater management at the state level…?
For everyone that lived in the (Cal Fire) State Responsibility Area (SRA), you may recall being subject to an unconstitutional “fee” (tax) several years ago. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA) took Cal Fire to court over this tax and was eventually successful in overturning it (though the residents that paid the $115 fee annually for several years under protest never received a refund of their tax dollars).
The key takeaway of the GSA “fee” (tax) being imposed on citizens throughout California is this…it’s unconstitutional AND needs to be given it’s day in Court.
Respectfully,
Steve Jackson
Command Master Chief Petty Officer
Enlisted Surface and Air Warfare Qualified
United States Navy (retired)