Claremont water bond on November ballot as Measure W

It’s official. Claremont’s water revenue bond has been given a name: Measure W—as in “winning” or “waste of money”—depending on what side of the water table you sit.

City staff received notification of the selection on Monday, August 18 after submitting several name choices to the County of Los Angeles, which ultimately chose Measure W as the name to appear on the November 4 ballot.

The ballot measure, which will require a “Yes” or “No” vote, will be printed and read as follows:

“Shall the City of Claremont be authorized to issue water revenue bonds up to $135 million to pay for acquisition of the Claremont Water System and incidental expenses payable only from the water system’s revenues?”

The impartial analysis, arguments in favor and against the ballot measure, as well as the rebuttals, can be found under the “Water” sidebar located on the city’s website at /www.ci.claremont.ca.us

As the COURIER previously reported, the city recently revised the ballot language to read $135 million in bonds rather than $55 million as previously stated, as part of an agreement with Golden State Water. In exchange, Golden State agreed to abandon the citizen initiative petition drive that would require the city to seek voter approval for all bonds issued in connection with the acquisition of the water system.

Measure W should not be confused with Proposition 1, a state water bond measure that will also appear on the November ballot, asking voters to approve $7.1 billion in new borrowing and to redirect $425 million from past ballot propositions. It will replace an $11.1 billion bond that was negotiated in 2009 but was considered too expensive and too burdened with local, special interest projects to pass.

Issues relating to Claremont’s ballot Measure W will be discussed at an informational water bond seminar sponsored by the Claremont Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, September 17. Business owners and residents are encouraged to attend the presentation that will include a panel discussion between representatives of the city of Claremont, and Golden State Water, as well as citizen-groups Claremont Friends of Locally-Owned Water (Claremont FLOW) and Claremont Affordable Water Advocates (CAWA).

The seminar will be held on Wednesday, September 17 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel,  located at 555 W. Foothill Blvd. in Claremont. Attendees are asked to RSVP by Friday, September 12 to the Claremont Chamber at (909) 624-1681 or via email to contact@claremontchamber.org.

—Angela Bailey

news@claremont-courier.com

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