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Landowners approve funding Tuscan Water District

Blake Ellis, landowner within the Tuscan Water District, addresses the district's board of directors on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025 in Chico, Calif.
Ava Norgrove
/
NSPR
Blake Ellis, landowner within the Tuscan Water District, addresses the district's board of directors on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025 in Chico, Calif.

Butte County landowners have approved funding the recently formed Tuscan Water District.

Up for vote today was a $6.46 per acre fee for landowners in the district. The fee, now approved, will go toward funding the district’s operations and could appear on landowners taxes as early as this year.

The vote count came after more than two hours of heated debate at the water district’s regular board of director’s meeting.

The meeting 

Despite the cold winter morning, the small meeting room was hot with the breath of dozens of people in attendance. Some standing, some sitting on the floor, every chair was full.

Nearly every person in attendance of the meeting opposed the district and discussion was heated.

Blake Ellis, a landowner in the district, argued that how votes are weighed is undemocratic and gives too much voting power to large landowners.

“If this election is a demonstration on how you plan to engage and represent and protect your constituents within this proposed district, then you are either really bad at your job,” she said, “or you're intentionally bad at your job, which means you're nefarious schemers who wanted to keep this election below everyone's radar because you've rigged the vote.”

Votes in the Tuscan Water District are weighed by the value of land owned. Many in attendance said this favors the interests of industrial farmers – many which have owners who live out of state – and they felt unheard.

Raymond Antonowich, a member of the Board of Directors of the Tuscan Water District addresses the crowd of attendees during a meeting in Chico, Calif. on Wednesday, January 15.
Ava Norgrove
/
NSPR
Raymond Antonowich, a board member of the Tuscan Water District, addresses attendees at a meeting in Chico, Calif. on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025.

Another common criticism was a lack of available information about the district.

“You guys did a poor job of letting people know about this,” Steve Howard, another district landowner, told board members. “As a landowner that leaves a really poor taste in my mouth.”

Many in attendance, along with Howard, said they had no idea the Tuscan Water District had been formed until they received a ballot in the mail. They argued the board should have worked to better inform the public.

After hours of heated back and forth debate between attendees and board members, several residents called for an end to the meeting’s hostility.

Raymond Antonowich, a board member and a farmer within the district, argued that everyone wants the same thing; a sustainable groundwater supply in Butte County.

“Everybody is shooting for this. We are not here to take your water. We don't own it. We are all drawing out of the same rock,” Antonowich said.

The vote

Despite overwhelming protest during the meeting, funding for the district passed with overwhelming support.

About 40% of ballots were returned by landowners in the district – 831 ballots were received out of over 2,061 sent out. Five ballots were invalid or did not mark yes or no.

The assessment fee was approved with approximately 87% of votes in favor and 12% opposed.

Ava is NSPR’s Morning Edition anchor and reporter. They previously worked on NPR’s Weekend Edition and NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered broadcasts and produced weekly national news stories focused on contextualizing national issues for individual communities. They love NorCal and spending time outdoors.