Boise Valley irrigation districts’ have gotten the negative attention of urban and suburban residents lately by claiming the water that keeps the Boise River running in the winter and by a homeowner’s tax dispute over $4.78.
Before these two stories most people hardly knew these governments who tax and can bond existed. Many people pay the tax but don't get any water because developers didn't hook into the historic canal system to water lawns.
Now one urban lawmaker want to make sure the boards of these governmental entities are accountable to their increasingly urban customers. Boise Democratic Rep. David Langhorst plans to introduce legislation that would require that each voter had an equal vote in irrigation district elections.
Since 2006, when the Idaho Legislature rewrote the law, irrigation districts can change the voting procedures so that the number of votes a landowner has is based on the number of acres owned within the district.
That’s right. If you own 1,000 irrigated acres in a district, you have 1,000 votes. If you would have a quarter acre you have a quarter of a vote. But this system only goes into effect after the district first asks its voters to support the new voting system using the old system. Since most urban voters barely know they are a part of an irrigation district this vote would not get a lot of publicity.
I can’t tell you yet how many districts have voted to change their voting for their boards and bond elections to this new system yet but I’m checking.
Langhorst, who voted against House Bill 544 in 2006, want to ensure that irrigation district elections are one man, one vote. That would force the districts to be accountable to its urban residents and their concerns just as much as their farmers.
He pointed to the dispute that came after Nampa-Meridan Irrigation District placed a lien on Meridan howmeowner Brian Bandhauer for $4.78 for tax delinquency. After Heath Druzin’s reports in the Idaho Statesman on Bandhauer and other homeowners who had liens placed on their property, the state’s largest irrigation district decided to waive Bandhauer’s late charges, which came because the tax notice went to the wrong address.
Langhorst is fighting an uphill battle since the Idaho Water User’s Association, which pushed the legislation quietly through the Legislature in 2006, remains one of the most powerful lobby groups.
But at a time when Idaho water users want the Legislature and urban voters to help pay to resolve the huge Snake River Plain Aquifer dispute, opposing one person, one vote might be a problem. The perception that farmers support drying up the Boise River in the winter, support heavy-handed treatment of taxpayers and back more representation on taxation to huge landowners could be a pesky political problem.
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Maybe This Is The Answer
Since the story about our fight with NMID broke, we have been getting calls, emails, and having conversations with many people telling us about their own problems with NMID. There were also many online comments posted with the articles.
The common denominator? Dreadful treatment from NMID personnel.
The homeowner and small landowner has no clout with NMID. They are the power of water, and they act like they need answer to no one.
How can we legislate decency and humility into a group like this? This is the best answer I have seen yet - maybe the only answer. It is the foundation of this country - the right to cast a vote equal to all others' votes.
Brilliant, Senator Langhorst. Thank you for trying to make a difference.
OR...
you could round them up and send then to Juntura in exile.
Juntura is too nice a place for them...
I have been to Juntura. Not a bad place if you dont need to buy gas or just need someplace in the middle of nowhere to go. I believe Sen. Langhorst may be on the right track, but there is a long way to go. We first have to change the whole mindset of irrigation districts statewide. Remember, they have been sucking at the taxpayers teet for a long time. Its going to be difficult at best to get these leeches away from our tax dollars. One has to wonder just what all this money is spent on that they get for NOT providing a service to the people they are collecting money from. My only guess would be to pay morons like this Coon character to harass homeowners.
Part of the solution
lies with the developers of the farmland that is being turned into subdivisions. Most people moving from the city to rural subdivisions do not know that the land has tax assessments for the water as well as a bill for the water that is allotted to that property. Even when this land is developed, it is still a part of the irrigation system. Most developers fill in the ditches that bring water to the land and do not put in a system by which property owners can receive their irrigation allotment yet they are still billed for that water that is impossible to get to their yard. The irrigation district is not responsible for what the developer has done and most times is not aware as they are not a part of the process that approves all of these subdivisions. Once ground has been developed there are ways to get that property off of the irrigation tax roles and water billing system but many homeowners are not even aware that they are a part of the irrigation districts until something happens such as the lien on the property for a $4.78 unpaid bill. This "glitch" in the system is not entirely the fault of the irrigation district--doesn't the developer have a responsibility to inform the home buyers of such things? Each lot in a new subdivision will be assessed the portion of irrigation tax as well as the portion of the water bill that goes with the amount of property the house sits on. People who move from the city to what used to be the country are not aware of any of this. They are used to turning on the faucet and having their water come through it and have no idea whatsoever what an irrigation district is let alone what their obligations could be to that district.
We own and live on a 160-acre farm in what used to be rural Ada County. With the land around us being developed, the new homeowners have no idea how to order in their irrigation water, how to calculate their usage of that water, that the landowners must take turns with their irrigation, which ditches they are responsible for maintaining and which the irrigation district is in charge of, etc. They also do not know that they cannot legally fill in the ditches that provide access for the irrigation water to reach their neighbor's property.
The key to all of this is education and much of it needs to start with the developer/builder who creates land parcels with no access to the irrigation water alloted to them.
e-mail me
I would like to use your comments in my story on the issue.
Rocky
rbarker@idahostatesman.com
irrigation districts
I have to agree with tvholstein. Most people who move into the area do not understand the irrigation systems that are in place. I sympathize with the ranchers and farmers who are still trying to make a living in the valley while subdivisions are being put in next to them. In this day in age of urban sprawl, the residents of the Treasure Valley should do what they can to help agriculture intersests rather than hinder them. Everyone moving here is coming because of the way of life Idaho has to offer. If the remaining farmers and ranchers sell out to developers, the Treasure Valley will be no different than the Bay area, Seattle area or any of the number of other areas that new Idaho residents have moved from to get to our wonderful state. My father has sat on two or three ditch boards. It really is a thankless job. He was also the one who cleaned many ditches in the spring with his backhoe. Every year he would get threats of lawsuits for invading private property even though the ditch had a right of way or going through fences that were put on the ditch companies property. He just retired from the ditch boards this year. He said he was tired of fighting the development.
If you starve them, they will come around!
When milk is so expensive nobody even breastfeeds maybe that will occur.
Oh yeah, nobody does that anymore anyhow. City slickers...
"Treasure Valley"
I would guess that without the formation, risk, and work that the Irrigation Districts have provided to this valley, most of us would not be here. Without the abundant irrigation systems developed long in the past this valley would look a lot like what we have between Boise and Mountain Home. Without the previous generations hard work this valley would not be much of a "Treasure". In case we haven't been paying attention, everyone can find someone everyday who makes a mistake. Individuals, cities, counties, countries, etc., are not perfect. I came from an agriculture background and have a tendency to feel the loss of our farm community. The quality of life here began with the breaking of ground to grow something good. Those people that have moved here came for something better than where they were. Let's try to be more positive and helpful to one another and less attack minded. Keep the "Treasure" that has been given to you.