Point Reyes Light - August 31, 2000
Pending bill would release Tomales from $163,000 debt
Legislation that would relieve the Tomales Village Community Services District of a six-figure debt took one step closer to approval Wednesday after an environmental subcommittee of the Assembly voted unanimously to support the measure.
Co-sponsored by Assemblywoman Kerry Mazzoni of San Rafael, the bill - AB 441 - is scheduled to be voted on by the full Assembly later this week.
In essence, AB 441 would reclassify as a state grant the roughly $163,000 debt the newly-formed district assumed from North Marin Water District when it took over management of the sewer system in October, 1999. The debt is the remainder of a loan North Marin took out from the state Water Resources Control Board in 1975 for construction of the sewer.
"This has been a long-standing concern for us," Mazzoni told The Light. "The Tomales area is an environmental jewel, and the town really needs the help."
Mazzoni spokeswoman Patti Habel said Wednesday evening that the approval earlier in the day by the bipartisan Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee gave her confidence that the bill would pass before the close of the assembly session at the end of the week. "I now have every reason to believe that the bill will get off the Assembly floor," Habel said.
Specifically, the bill, in its own words, "would provide that the amounts owed by the [district] to the state board for payment of principal and interest in connection with a prescribed loan from [the state Water Quality Control Fund] to prevent water pollution shall be considered a grant for the construction of necessary wastewater treatment facilities, as prescribed."
The district is interested in making a series of improvements to the sometimes problematic system. Without the debt, the district would be in a position to seek financing for the work.