Another costly day for Apple Valley (December 15, 2016)
December 15, 2015, was a bad day for those in Apple Valley who still desire to seize our water system, as the Federal Reserve Board’s decision to raise rates by one-quarter point raised the cost of the hostile takeover by somewhere around $11 million. Almost exactly one year later, the Fed has raised interest rates by a further one-quarter point, which again adds to the cost of this folly. Word is that more interest rate increases are on their way.
While the Town council publicly states that the water company is worth around $50 million, it is already looking to spend up to $125 million, with no apparent maximum cap. In fact, the Town council refuses to tell us what amount if any would be too much to pay to buy something we already have: A transparent, locally-controlled water company. It’s easy to get the feeling that cost is no object.
Of course, the total price will include all the monies spent so far, costs of all the litigation yet to come, reimbursing Liberty Utilities for its legal expenses, making whole the Yermo water system, early payment penalties on existing bonds, transition costs, and a host of other costs yet unknown, upon which interest will accrue at the new higher rate(s). Even so, these hundreds of millions of dollars will not buy one more drop of water than we currently have, nor improve our current level of service, nor provide us with cleaner water, nor lower our water rates.
The recent approval of Measure V by the voters of Apple Valley, along with the adverse decision in a similar eminent domain case in Claremont, and these interest rate increases all point to one conclusion: The Town council must give up this quest, now and forever.
— Greg Raven is Co-Chair of Apple Valley Citizens for Government Accountability, and is concerned about quality of life issues.
Files related to Claremont
- 20150308 Acquiring AVRWC is right move for Apple Valley
- 20150314 Expense of possible AVRWC acquisition difficult to gauge
- 20150514 Claremont Water System — Supplement to 2012 Appraisal Report
- 20150905 Letter: Lawyers, water, and money (O’Neil)
- 20150918 TOAV fires back at Coupal
- 20150923 Editorial: Water, takeovers, and the people
- 20151015 Cities and private equity firms fight over ownership of water systems
- 20160712 Public records request (Manning)
- 20160721 Conflict of interest (Manning)
- 20160904 Letter: Peter Allen supporting Measure V (Nassif)
- 20161012 Claremont Set To Raise Rates For Utilities
- 20161018 Will Apple Valley become California’s Flint, MI?
- 20161110 Statement of tentative decision (Claremont v. Golden State Water)
- 20161110 Judge issues tentative decision against city in water system acquisition trial (Claremont v. Golden State Water)
- 20161114 Measures V and W
- 20161115 Polls and votes
- 20161116 Another false narrative
- 20161116 Liberty sees Claremont’s eminent-domain loss as sign of things to come in Apple Valley
- 20161121 Voters show they want a say in water takeover issue (Hanson)
- 20161215 Another costly day for Apple Valley
- 20161218 Time to pay attention: An open letter to Larry Cusack
- 20170111 Claremont city manager getting a $21,000 bonus
- 20170114 Price tag for Claremont’s failed attempt to take over water system keeps rising
- 20170115 Our View: Time for foes to sit down and talk
- Time for the Town Council to listen for a change
- Response to Thomas Lecoq (Carloni)
- Time for a second opinion? (Carloni)
- 20170209 Avoiding the Claremont disaster (video)
- 20170213 Valley Voices: Apple Valley would be wise to work with Liberty Utilities (Wright)
- 20170216 James Belna on the Claremont eminent domain disaster (video)
- 20170220 Claremont resident talks [about] avoiding ‘disaster’ in Apple Valley
- 20170220 Conflict of interest
- 20170220 Letter: Response to Thomas Rice (Belna)
- 20170226 Letter: James Belna’s visit (Hanson)
- 20170226 Letter: Rice rebuttal (Trozpek)
- Claremont public records request
- Truth not tricks (Carloni)
- Comments to the Town Council opposing the ballot measure
- 20170314 Town Council meeting (McCarthy)
- 20170322 Skewing the facts (Hanson)
- 20170323 Letter: Sit down and settle (Henard)
- 20170406 Guest commentary: Government takeovers of water systems don’t deliver results — study
- Who pays?
- Responding to claims made on Facebook
- 20170508 Liberty Utilities radio ad — Claremont (audio)
- Not paying attention
- 20171010 Claremont reaches $4.8 million settlement agreement with Golden State Water
- 20171017 Claremont settlement reignites Apple Valley water war
- 20171026 Claremont cuts ties with its city attorney, law firm