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Latest in Paso Robles Groundwater Basin war: New tax rejected

August 1, 2025

Water pipes laid out at a Justin Vineyard and Winery property

By KAREN VELIE

As part of a more than decade-long war over control of the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin, the newly formed joint powers authority’s plan to tax landowners over the basin failed on Friday.

During Friday’s meeting that included the ability for the public to attend and comment through Zoom, a hacker took over the screen with a white board that included a swastika and a racist word. Then suddenly, a video of a naked man masturbating took over the screen.

The Paso Robles Area Groundwater Authority then shut off Zoom.

A  group of people has fought for years to require landowners over the Paso Robles water basin to pay a fee for water usage. Officials from San Luis Obispo County, the City of Paso Robles, the Shandon-San Juan Water District and the Estrella-El Pomar-Creston Water District recently voted to create a joint powers authority to provide the power to levy taxes on those above the basin.

The basin was previously managed under a memorandum of agreement that included San Luis Obispo County and the mutiple water districts.

In 2016, nearly 80% of property owners above the basin voted against the creation of a new water district and its affiliated fees after opponents went door to door explaining the issues.

Even so, large agricultural businesses continued their pursuit of fees on residential properties and control of the basin, which included creating the Shandon-San Juan Water and the Estrella-El Pomar-Creston Water districts.

Approximately 9% of those over the basin are large corporate landowners who use 90% of the basin water. The goal of the joint powers authority was to have corporate landowners pay larger fees while charging a tax on everyone in rural areas with wells over the basin, including small residential properties.

After the SLO County Board of Supervisors and the Paso Robles City Council voted for the new joint powers authority, opponents of the authority began putting together a plan to stop the proposed fees for the joint powers authority through a 218 vote.

Proposition 218 was passed to ensure that property owners have an opportunity to vote on all new taxes.

Amid complaints regarding charging residential users, both of the water districts announced plans to restructure the joint powers authority, including no longer charging the small residential users.

In the end, there were approximately 1,300 parcels included in the proposed taxpayer base.

At the beginning of the meeting on Friday, the Paso Robles Area Groundwater Authority announced they had counted the mailed in protest votes, which equaled 689, which was more than the 50% plus one needed to stop the proposed tax.

In addition, another 75 protest votes were turned in at the meeting for a total of 764, or a 59% to 41% win for the protesters.

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What a waste of taxpayer’s money! Every landowner already pays taxes for the water beneath their land. If you don’t think so, then compare what the property taxes would be if the land had no water beneath. Prop 13 has done a fine job keeping the gov at bay and this proposed taking is why the voters passed Prop 13. Sadly, gov will continue to waste your tax dollars in an attempt to offend you and that too needs to be addressed so we can get the money back to pave our roads. Maybe the refund will be no pay raises for gov counsel until they do a better job at protecting the public trust.


County wide, it would be outrageous to know what gov has spent on legal expenses just on their attempt to take private rights from property owners. As they will say, “if you don’t like it, you can file a lawsuit.” Which means you fund your claim, and you infinitely fund their defense.


14

This is a major victory for WE THE PEOPLE.


Never ever stop fighting for your personal and property right that are bestowed upon you by God and guaranteed under our U.S. Constitution.


STOP corporate takeovers of any and all public rights at every turn.


FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!


Congratulations to my fellow Patriots for the win on this battle.


P.s.

Now, let’s get the big corporations and large vineyards to pay their 90+% portion of the water bill and any future infrastructure bill. That’s how numbers work.


You big corporations/vineyards want to play here, then you need to pay your documented part, here.


14

Did Tom Fulks orchestrate the video entertainment?


4

just another round of the corruption enterprise at work in this county.


20

The Resnicks will continue to try and control the district and the water.


43

WE THE PEOPLE will still them. WE will not stop until they are run out of the county (if thats how they want to play it).


9

*will STOP


**This place needs an edit button!


9

When single home properties and large businesses with 100x greater water consumption were lumped together… this proposed tax was bound to fail. More corporate garbage at the expense of everyone else :/


60