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Residents urge clearer accounting of total costs, lateral connections and restroom responsibilities
Summary
Multiple public commenters told the board they need clearer information on what property owners will pay — including construction assessments, lateral connections and Solvang O&M charges — and requested the district explicitly state it will not fund downtown public bathrooms.
Several residents used the public‑comment period and the assessment workshop to press the board for clearer, consolidated information about total homeowner costs. Anne Marie Gott (who identified herself as a district resident) asked the board to wait for an upcoming Polo study before advancing projects and said the district should make a public statement that it will not fund downtown public restrooms: "We are not going to be building bathrooms. We are not going to be having any expenditures toward that. It's not our responsibility," she told the board.
Catherine Rohrer urged the board to state plainly how construction assessments, operations and maintenance charges and lateral connection costs would combine for a parcel over time. "I would hope at some point the board is gonna clarify ... that people are gonna be paying the construction amount over at least 30 years," Rohrer said, noting that lateral work and pump/lift costs can add substantial outlays for lower‑grade parcels. Multiple commenters also pressed that large nonresidential parcels may bear disproportionate weighted votes under a protest‑based Prop 218 assessment and asked the board to present clear sample owner bills before any hearing.
Directors and staff acknowledged the need to provide clearer, parcel‑level examples and said staff would seek assessment‑engineer work products and communications support (polling and public education) before moving to a Prop 218 hearing.
