Written Testimony of Chairman Watson - 10/05/2017
Written Testimony of Mr. Gary Watson
Chairman of the Mohave County Board of Supervisors
Before the Board of Directors of the
Central Arizona Water Conservation District
and the
Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District
October 5, 2017
Good afternoon Madame President and Board Members, for the record, I am Gary Watson, Chairman of the Mohave County Board of Supervisors and I appreciate the opportunity to testify today and thank you very much for your time. I represent District 1 in Mohave County and have been the Chair or Vice Chair of the Board numerous times since 2009. My family came to Mohave County in 1955 from Phoenix, and yes, I am one of those rare Arizona natives.
As to Item 5a on the Board’s Agenda, I have journeyed to Tucson today to advise this Board that as a matter of public policy, Mohave County opposes the transfer of Fourth Priority Colorado River Water - that has already been allocated to communities along the river - away from the mainstream of the River for use in Central Arizona. It is the transfer of this water away from the mainstream of the River that Mohave County must oppose by all means, in all forums, and for as long as it takes.
Mohave County takes no position on the sale of lands, and takes no position on the use of water on the mainstream of the River for local use.
Mohave County opposes diversion of Fourth Priority water from the Colorado River Mainstream to Central Arizona, and opposes Item 5a to the extent the Board authorizes any transfer of Fourth Priority water to Central Arizona for replenishment purposes. In particular, the Memo on Item 5a recounts the purpose of the purchase to be: “(1) acquire secure rights to Colorado River water, and (2) implement a rotational fallowing program to generate a water supply for CAGRD replenishment purposes.”
Second, also as a matter of public policy, we do not support a three-county conservation district, in which Mohave County and eleven other counties have no elected representation on the Board, using its superior buying power to provide $34 million in funds to buy and divert water from rural counties. The water you seek to buy and transfer is the economic lifeblood of our Rural County in Mohave Valley. It is our very future and you seek to wheel it to three far wealthier counties for your own benefit. Our citizens demand that we protect their interests and oppose this action by all means.
The assessed valuation of the seven properties combined is about $440,000 and yet the purchase price is $34 million. We fear that the CAWCD is about to trade Mohave County’s economic future for $34 million and we think that is wrong.
Third, the purported sale will remove 2,215 acres of farmland from the tax rolls of Mohave County, and place the acres in the ownership of a three-county conservation district that has no obligation to pay Mohave County property taxes.
We have been asked why we use that level of about $440,000 compared to your purchase price of $34 million and not a higher Full Cash Value? Because this board is locking Mohave County into that lower $440,000 assessed valuation in perpetuity – forever. When you take the water and place the purchased land in agricultural use forever, the economic growth potential of placing that land in light industrial uses, or residential uses, or even heavy industry like our steel plant in Kingman, Arizona, is gone forever. With any of those uses, our tax base and economy will sky rocket in value – but this CAWCD Board, which does not have any representation from Mohave County or vested interest in the well-being of its citizens, will have taken that opportunity for growth and locked us into an agriculture use with a negligible tax base forever. That is why we use the assessed valuation of about $440,000.
And to pour salt in the wound, this CAWCD Board has never once reached out to us to even discuss whether you will pay some form of “in lieu” taxes to Mohave County. And surely, if we ever have that conversation, will this CAWCD Board be willing to pay taxes on the higher assessed valuation of light industrial or residential use, or even the Full Cash Value which our County Assessor valued this year at $4.475 million? Surely this land, if left alone by CAWCD, will grow to one of these uses and bring far more economic vitality to Mohave County in the next 50 years than its current agricultural use.
Finally, according to your Action Brief posted prior to the September 7th meeting, the Board has had four Executive Sessions starting in December 2015 to discuss this purchase. In 21 months of negotiation behind closed doors, Mohave County was never notified or given the opportunity to participate in the discussion. Is this how your board conducts business on a regular basis?
We urge the Board to consider the historic ramifications of this proposed land purchase, and to consider that its purpose is to move water from Mohave County that was prudently set aside for rural Arizona Colorado River mainstream users to Central Arizona in 1968. I hope that the Board will decide today that Item 5a, and this contract, should not move forward. I ask you to hold this matter and not approve the contract. If you vote today,
I ask you to vote NO, and to terminate any further consideration of this contract.
Thank you for your time and for the record I have attached as Exhibit 1 the Mohave Valley Irrigation and Drainage District Resolution Number 90-01, approved and adopted on April 1, 2008, that prohibits the transfer of contracted water “outside of the District’s external boundaries.”