The following is a copy of a letter to the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency. The huge water rate hike proposal that you are giving the residents of Santa Clarita Valley until April 1 to write a letter in opposition to is appalling. No emails, no phone calls. Even though they are recorded, not go od enough.  You must be well aware that your mailouts about this have probably gone directly from the mailbox to the trash can. Your virtual meetings (2) were at a time when most residents are working, trying to make ends meet so they can pay for the high cost of our own water being delivered to us in a timely manner. The cost for us to have water in our homes should be minimal at worst. We could give you 200 “no” letters to this price hike and that should be more than enough. But no, of course not. You need letters delivered in person or by mail and you require way more than half the residents to respond or you vote and the rates go up starting July 2025. Some answers you might want to bring to the April 1 meeting where you plan to “vote” on this: Here is a report on Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency salaries for 2023 from govsalaries.com (these figures include combined salary and benefits): “Highest salary at Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency in year 2023 was $452,311. Number of employees at Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency in year 2023 was 253. Average annual salary was $142,471 and median salary was $143,006. Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency average salary is 204% higher than USA average and median salary is 229% higher than USA median salary.” By the way, does everyone know that 1% of all yearly property taxes goes to SCV Water Agency? That’s over and above what you pay monthly.  Surely, you can see that this should go to an SCV vote of “we the people.” You probably will reply that it would cost too much money to take it to a vote. Hmmm.  Let me help you out here. The cost would be minimal to have residents vote like this: One place, one day, in person, must show I.D., must show proof of residency, must be a legal citizen, paper ballots, no machines, hand counting, same-day result, etc. Plus, the answer as to yes or no would be whichever gets over 50% of the vote no matter how many show up to vote. It would be a great “test” for this good old-fashioned voting method. You know, the one that should never have been turned into the nightmare it became once the electronic machines came in to the picture.  Diane Zimmerman Santa Clarita The post Diane Zimmerman | Appalling Level of Public Input appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal. ...read more read less