ON THE RECORD
Nicholas Schou
Nicholas Schou is an award-winning investigative journalist and author of several books, including Orange Sunshine and Kill the Messenger. If you have tips or stories about Montecito, please email him at newseditor@montecitojournal.net
A Modest Proposal
F Second Opinion Service Does you advisor understand your goals? Now is the perfect time to make sure that your portfolio aligns with your long terms goals. After this volatile period, check and make sure you are planning and invested for the future. Included in the free consultation: * New Financial Plan * Review of current allocation * Review of specific investments * Review of borrowing * Proposed Recommendations Call me today to get started.
Christopher T. Gallo, CFP®, CIMA® Vice President-Wealth Management CPWA® Portfolio Manager 805-730-3425 christopher.t.gallo@ubs.com
Christopher Gallo UBS Financial Services Inc. 222 East Carrillo Street Suite 106 Santa Barbara, CA 93101-7146 805-730-3425 800-262-4774
ubs.com/fa/christophertgallo As a firm providing wealth management services to clients, UBS Financial Services Inc. offers both investment advisory services and brokerage services. Investment advisory services and brokerage services are separate and distinct, differ in material ways and are governed by different laws and separate arrangements. It is important that clients understand the ways in which we conduct business and that they carefully read the agreements and disclosures that we provide to them about the products or services we offer. For more information, please review the PDF document at ubs.com/workingwithus. Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, Certified Financial Planner™ and federally registered CFP (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements. CIMA® is a registered certification mark of the Investment Management Consultants Association, Inc. in the United States of America and worldwide. ©UBS 2020. All rights reserved. UBS Financial Services Inc. is a subsidiary of UBS AG. Member FINRA/SIPC. D-UBS-9FF83249
6
MONTECITO JOURNAL
rom 1 to 3 pm on the afternoon of June 15, the Montecito Water District (MWD) will hold an online hearing in which Nick Turner, the agency’s executive director, will explain several proposed water rate changes that will affect roughly 4,000 households in Montecito and Summerland, not to mention several major luxury hotels and private country clubs with world class-rated golf courses, and therefore significant water needs. Several important topics will be on the meeting’s agenda, including the district’s recently-adopted urban water management plan, groundwater banking, demand management, and initial actions that the district has already taken to enhance the water supply. According to MWD’s presentation summary, titled “Securing Water Supply Reliability,” the district’s overall costs are estimated to increase by just 2.8 percent per year. Despite this, 56 percent of MWD’s customers will actually see a decrease in their monthly water bill, while heavier water users, whether golf clubs, hotels, or large estates, will pay more. In past issues of this newspaper, the Montecito Journal has explored different aspects of our complex relationship with local municipal water. These stories have included a discussion of controversial conservation measures enacted by the MWD’s previous board and how that led to heated elections that brought new leadership to the district, as well as an historical overview of the agency’s once-per-generation battle to secure newer and more reliable water sources. This epic, century-long water procurement undertaking has resulted in not only one of California’s if not the world’s most lush, beautiful landscapes, but also created one of the state’s heaviest users of water per capita, where our landscaping draw can be more than five times as much as parts of Los Angeles, and amounts to 85 percent of the district’s annual deliveries. For perspective, much of the U.S. uses only about a third of their water for landscape. Though, admittedly, the rest of the U.S. also doesn’t have our enviable, arid Mediterranean climate. In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into the complicated nature of Montecito’s proposed “Water Sharing Agreement” or WSA, with Santa Barbara. We’ll also explore
“We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience.” – George Bernard Shaw
Montecito’s historical relationship to Santa Barbara’s desalination project and how the MWD was unable to reach a deal with the city, at least until now. On January 28 and 29 of this year, both MWD’s board and Santa Barbara’s city council agreed to a so-called “term sheet,” the final draft of which is 20 pages long. It’s an ambitious document, which if passed by MWD and Santa Barbara’s city council this month, will represent an historic moment in the annals of California environmental policy.
Water, Water, Everywhere
In the late 1980s, as tends to happen every decade or so, Santa Barbara and the rest of California faced a chronic water shortage that lasted several years, a crisis that led many coastal cities to consider building water desalination facilities. The success rate of these projects tended to be 50-50 at best, since water desalination plants are expensive to build and operate. There’s also the quandary the entire process can take so long, especially in environmentally conscious California, that by the time a desal plant finally goes online, water needs change and it is no longer needed. Controversy over various desal projects in California has become routine, and while well-organized environmental groups have complained about dangers to local sea life, vociferous proponents of desal seem to be all but nonexistent. When desal started, the technology was too new and seemingly untested to win unanimous support. “You have these outspoken people,” said Joshua Haggmark, Santa Barbara’s Water Resources Manager, who joined the agency in 1999. “And while I don’t understand their reasoning, there’s really nobody passionate about desal. You typically only hear from the environmental groups.” But all that may be changing now. While some former water district officials such as Dick Shaikewitz and Bob Roebuck strongly oppose the project, others, including MWD’s longtime former general manager Tom Mosby, believe that desal technology offers Montecito a means to find a reliable local supply of water for the next half-century.
ON THE RECORD Page 304 11 – 18 June 2020
