Dear Dixon: Judge Beeman's Sewage-Treatment Decision Was Wise One

Dear Community:

Dixon residents may not realize it, but on July 22nd a major milestone changed our community’s history. On that date Superior Court Judge Beeman ruled that an election to roll back sewer user rates was unconstitutional.

His decision recognized that the Dixon City Council moved forward with construction of a new wastewater/sewage treatment facility, arranged a low interest rate loan using Clean Water Funds from the State of Californiato finance it, and set in place a user rate structure to pay for the construction, and for the future maintenance and operation of the system.

Judge Beeman’s ruling was in response to the legitimate and justifiable State mandate to prevent further contamination of groundwater. It makes total sense.

The City did what the State said it had to do!

If the election had proceeded and if the user rates had been rolled back, as the proponents, the Dixon Chapter of the Solano County Taxpayers Association, of the measure wished, several very bad things would have happened to us as a community:

1) We would continue to be out of compliance with State water quality regulations and the State would likely level fines against us, more than the last time when we paid $220,000.

2) We would not have been able to repay the State loan-The Clean Water funds- and we would have been in default.

3) We would not have been able to pay for the construction already started. This means we would be in breach of the construction contract and would be open to being sued by the contactor.

4) We would still be required to fix our sewage treatment problem.

5) We would have to stop economic growth in Dixon because we could not provide appropriate sewer service.

6) We would see our property values decline, reflecting all of these negative conditions.

With Judge Beeman’s wise decision, the Dixon community can stay the course, finish the project, repay the loan over time, and avoid fines by meeting the State’s requirements. With the ability to provide appropriate sewage treatment, once again we can encourage new businesses to locate in Dixon bringing jobs and economic vitality, and we can serve already planned new residential areas.

Congratulations to Dixon for this historic court decision and to the Dixon City Council members, past and present, who made the difficult, but much needed, decisions for the betterment of our community.

Signed:

Warren Salmons, President

Dixon Positive Action Committee