FPUD meter charges

Mr. Lyons,

You have made a good argument in your letter to the editor in the Village News that community volunteers need help; however, you cannot hold a gun to our heads to make us do what you want.

We all need to give back to our hobbies as our feelings dictate; however, being held up to support other people’s visions is not right. The proposed seven member board at Fallbrook Public Utilities District with two FPUD board members – Charlie Wolf and Dave Baxter have already volunteered and seem to be guaranteed rubber stamps – two members from the nonprofits with their hands in the communities pockets and three so-called at large members to be named have a half million in grant requests before them at this time.

I was one of the local citizens at the FPUD public hearing. The so called $5 per month is baloney. There is no cap and no ending to the hands in our pockets. The funds are to be collected by FPUD to avoid balloting as a tax. Any nonprofit in Fallbrook may submit for a grant. Everyone who has a water meter in FPUD will pay per meter.

Fine arts wants a new roof, the railroad group wants to build a museum, who knows what the boys and girls club, the wellness center, the garden club, the quilt guild and myriad other groups will want?

Consider these few examples. No one asked the community when they planted inappropriate trees on Main Street and the divider. Now they are overgrown and need to be removed and replaced, hopefully at our expense. They want us to pay for the locked Jackie Henaman thing that has been refitted for the Americans with Disabilities Act, given a lovely gazebo and picnic tables and locked up from public use.

The FPUD lawyer has applied to Local Agency Formations Commission for permission to begin charging us. If you feel that this fee is inappropriate, contact county supervisors Jim Desmond and Diane Jacobs on the LAFCO board and anyone else on the board.

If you agree with it, remember there is no way to go back as the cost goes up.

Susan Nikkel