A new fee is expected to impact thousands of wells across Monterey County.

Celia Jiménez here, thinking about the juggling we do every day to stretch our money. If there is something I think locals dislike more than fee increases, it’s losing their right to make their own decisions. (Housing comes to mind. Some local jurisdictions, after failing to come up with a housing element by a state-set deadline, are subject to the “builder’s remedy,” a law that makes it easier for developers to get approval regardless of zoning requirements.)

That’s the reason why David Schmalz’s article about wells this week caught my attention. His report noted that if state officials don’t believe the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency is doing its due diligence to fulfill groundwater sustainability requirements, they can step in. 

More immediately, that means local agencies implementing new fees as they expand groundwater monitoring.

On June 3, water agency officials will ask the Monterey County Board of Supervisors to approve a new fee schedule. They will decide on the new fees that could range from $140 to $280, impacting an estimated 3,500 wells countywide.

“No one wants a new fee, [but] if we don’t do it, the state will,” Monterey County Water Resources Agency General Manager Ara Azhderian told Schmalz. “Retaining that local control is a vital part of what we’re trying to accomplish here.”

For decades, water resources, and the consequences of unsustainable groundwater extraction, have been a contentious topic across Monterey County. 

If you want to learn more about this topic, you can grab a paper this week at the nearest Weekly stand or read it online.