Kings County groundwater agency gains more support for land fee
A land assessment fee proposed by a groundwater agency continued to gain support when the Kings County Board of Supervisors and Hanford City Council members voted at their meetings on Sept. 15 to support the fee, which must still pass an election.
The fee is being proposed by the Mid-Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) to help fund projects in order to comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) and possibly work its way out of state probation.
Final hearing on assessment fee to be held Sept. 29.
The Mid-Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) will hold a final hearing for its proposed land assessment fee Sept. 29 at 1 p.m. in the Kings County Board of Supervisors chambers, 1400 W. Lacey Blvd. in Hanford.
Ballots must be submitted before the hearing ends in order to be counted. Only returned ballots are counted in a Proposition 218 election. So, the assessment will pass unless “no” votes exceed 50% of collected ballots.
The GSA proposed two new fees. The first would charge landowners $26.84 per acre. The second proposed fee would charge groundwater pumpers $19.24 per acre foot. That pumping fee must be approved by the GSA board under a Proposition 26 election.
Landowners in Mid-Kings should already have received a ballot for the land assessment fee in the mail.
Ballots may be mailed, dropped off at a ballot box or brought to the final public hearing.
The assessment fee comes under Proposition 218 rules, which require landowner approval before it can take effect. It already got approval from the Lakeside Irrigation Water District and the Kings County Water District earlier this month.
“I encourage all Hanford residents to submit a yes vote on the 218. It’s a minimal cost and it is going to impact everyone,” Mayor Mark Kairis said.
He referred to fees and other sanctions imposed by the state Water Resources Board as part of probation for the Tulare Lake subbasin, which covers most of Kings County. The region was placed on probation in 2024 for lacking an adequate groundwater plan.
Each GSA within the subbasin is now scrambling to write new plans that include projects to wean farmers off a substantial amount of groundwater and provide funding to repair domestic wells damaged by excessive pumping.
Creating those plans costs money.
Mid-Kings GSA is currently funded by the county and city under an 89%-11% split.
If approved, the land assessment fee would provide about $2.5 million in revenue to Mid-Kings in 2027. Those funds would pay for the GSA’s general operations, including its portion of a groundwater plan that is needed to get out of probation.
Mid-Kings also proposed a pumping fee up to $19.24 per acre foot through a Proposition 26 election, which must be approved by the GSA board. That fee will only be paid by groundwater pumpers.
Funds from that pumping fee would pay for pumping-related programs such as the GSA’s water quality and subsidence programs and its domestic well repair program.
