State Legislature Approves Proposed  Flood Control Bill

• District Would Receive Greater Taxing Authority in Unincorporated Areas

BY BILL KOENEKER          

A bill recently approved by the state legislature could have substantial consequences on the wallets of taxpayers in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County.

Assembly Bill 2554, sponsored by Assemblymember Julia Brownley (Dem.), whose district includes Malibu, would allow the Los Angeles Flood Control District to levy property-related fees to its current authorization to levying  of taxes or assessments.

AB 2554 would authorize the county's flood control district to impose a fee in the unincorporated area of the county to pay the cost and expenses of carrying out projects and providing services authorized under existing law, according to the text of the bill.

It requires any fee that is imposed to be levied and collected together with and not separately from taxes for county purposes.

The existing law establishes the district to provide for the control and conservation of flood, storm and other waste waters and authorizes the district to levy taxes or assessments on all taxable property within the district, after a vote of property owners.

Brownley and her supporters contend the bill is another tool for county flood control district officials in their efforts to comply with the Clean Water Act and the increasing regulations to comply with the many Total Maximum Daily Load requirements.

The district's authorizing statute allows the district to impose only taxes or assessments not fees.

This bill expands the district's authority to collect those fees and to add those property-related fees to its current authorization for levying taxes or assessments.

The bill would also allow the district to put a fee on a local ballot, asking the voters to raise revenue to fund clean water projects.

Sponsors of the measure say the county currently faces critical and very costly storm water and urban runoff pollution  challenges   mandated by the Clean Water Act.

"This bill is essential to the operation of the Los Angeles County Flood Control District as it tries to eliminate significant pollution imperiling the health of eight million residents," Brownley said.

If voters choose to approve new user fees, the revenue would be allocated for water quality programs in the following ways. Ten percent would go for the administation of the programs, forty percent would go to cities and unincorporated  areas within the district and 50 percent would be allocated to the nine watershed regions in the district.