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Valley Times
$1 serving blythe,california Wednesday, September 13, 2017

PVUSD faces $17 million debt

By Cathyleen Rice
Times Reporter
Sanchez said, “Revenues
are down, expenditures
are up and we have a
At the Sept. 5 school
$17.5 million outstand-
board meeting, the new ing debt, which is down,
Director of Business Ser- as it should be from the
vices Meliton Sanchez, prior year. We didn’t
shared with the Palo incur any new debt, not
Verde Unified School that I’m aware of, but we
District’s board of trust- did redo some financing
ees, the 2016-17 unaudit- activity.”
ed actuals report. Seeing a steady de-
Sharing his report, cline pattern in atten-
dance and enrollment of
about 138 students
from the 2015-16 to the
2016-17 school year, San-
chez said, the change in
P2s are affecting the dis-
trict’s funding and keep-
ing the schools from re-
ceiving an allotment of
revenue.
In keeping with the
board’s goal to, “create
a balanced budget, al-
locate funds to educate
students to the best of
our abilities, in keeping
within fiscal and educa-
tional restrictions and
limitations,” Sanchez
said, the board “has been
spending $1 million less
than what was projected,
which is a little better.”
Down $2.58 million
down from where they
started for the 2015-16
school year, another
problem the district is
face when it comes to
their debt situation, is
the general downward
trend of a $50,000 rev-
enue lost.
Having 3,011 students
currently enrolled, San-
chez said this could
be due to a number of
things, such as a decline
in attendance, a decline
in enrollment and pay-
able accounts deepening
the debt.
For fiscal year 2016-17
the district used $34 mil-
lion for expenditures,
$13.2 million for cer-
tificated salaries, clas-
sified salaries $5,8 mil-
lion, benefits $9 million,
books and supplies cost-
ing $3 million and other
See DEBT/A5

PVID sues Blythe In Focus

Metropolitan
Water District
By Cathyleen Rice
Times Reporter
For many years, Palo Verde
Irrigation District has been a
key player in the state’s water
debate.
Given the first water rights
in the state of California for
use of the Colorado River, on
Aug. 7, PVID filed a lawsuit
against the Metropolitan Wa-
ter District of Southern Cali-
fornia.
Entering into a 35-year agree-
ment with MWD in 2004 for the
transfer of water through the
land-fallowing program, the
once-working relationship be-
tween the two water entities
has now come to a standstill.
Filing a suit against the Met-
ropolitan Water District and
also citing five real parties
of interest, according to case
number RIC1714672 with the
Riverside County Superior
Court, PVID’s action to sue the
state’s largest municipal water
agency came about due to the
steady climb of farmland leas-
ing and the control of water
rights.
With close to 30 percent of
the valley’s farmland cur-
rently fallowed, the ongoing
issue of MWD purchasing land
around the City of Blythe for
larger cities’ control, was cited
as potentially hurting the fu-
ture of local farmers’ agricul-
tural abilities.
According to the lawsuit
filed by the Somach Simmons
and Dunn law firm based in
Sacramento, PVID alleges, “the
leasing of farmland are, ‘thinly
veiled attempts to turn these
agricultural parcels into water
farms through stringent water
consumption limitations and
extensive following require-
ments, and otherwise limit the
use of Colorado River water on
their parcels, all in an effort to
create additional water for ur-
ban use within MWD.”
Which means, this could
slow down the economic en-
gine that drives the commu-
nity, as PVID is located in
Blythe; a town best known for
its access to the Colorado Riv-
er and its growing of alfalfa,
wheat and cotton.
As the aforementioned crops
are prominent products of the
valley, cultivating and grow-
ing them requires a substan-
tial amount of water, which is
of top priority for local farmers
in town, rather than having
a limited supply provided to
them.
Shipping water via the Colo-
rado River Aqueduct to coastal
Southern California cities,
PVID filed the lawsuit hoping
to stop a domino effect from oc-
curring, which could happen
if MWD continues to make fal-
low land purchases.
Correspondingly this means
if landowners continue mov-
ing vast amounts of water
from the valley, this could
likely hurt Blythe in one or
two ways: less business being
done here (without potable
water, new businesses will
not come, per Public Director
Armando Baldizzone), which
could result in the steady rate
Photo by Uriel Avendano/Palo Verde Valley Times
The Palo Verde Irrigation District,  which is made up of a seven
person board and approximately 65 employees, will collectively undertake
the monumental maintenance and operations responsibilities of the newly
installed 89 thousand pound (roughly 44.5 ton, each) gates manning the valve
of the region’s Colorado River water.
of unemployment, that leads to
less money being spent in lo-
cal businesses in and around
Blythe.
In their submitted statement
of the lawsuit, PVID shares
that, “[moving] farm water to
cities are threatening the vi-
ability of agriculture in one of
the oldest farming valleys on
the river, which is central in
helping us achieve a sustain-
able water future.”
However, according to the
agreement made 13 years ago,
MWD Chairman Randy Re-
cord said the agreement be-
tween MWD and PVID would
not hurt local farmers of the
valley, as they are given access
to the Colorado River.
Making payments to farmers
who are part of the fallowing
program, which cutback land-
owners’ water use for not put-
ting their land in production,
as agreed per the fallowing
contract, MWD has not exceed-
ed the 26,000 acres warranted.
Currently falling 4,000 acres
short of its promise, in its in-
troductory statement to the re-
sponding party, “PVID brings
this action under the Califor-
nia Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA). Public Resources County Sheriff’s Department
Code sections 21000 et seq., to Hometown: Blythe, California
challenge Metropolitan Water
District of Southern Califor- you are, background, hometown famil-
See PVID/A13
Meet the
Candidate:
Johnny
Rodriguez
By Uriel Avendano
Times Editor
With the
Nov. 7 gen-
eral election
a little under
two months
away, the
City of
Blythe’s City
Council can-
didates are
jOHNNY rODRIGUEZ
gearing up to introduce them-
selves to their local community
constituents.
The four candidates will be
vying for three seats at the helm
of the city; according to the Riv-
erside County Registrar, in-
cumbent Joey DeConinck, Jo-
seph Halby, Johnny Rodriguez,
and Mark Bolliger will have a
total of 4,521 registered votes up
for grabs this coming election.
The Times reached out to
all candidates for a Q&A on
who they are; their experience;
their priorities; the economy;
goals; and more. Of the four
candidates, Mark Bolliger and
Johnny Rodriguez are the only
ones to have submitted their
answers for this publication.
We will continue to follow up
with the candidates as their an-
swers become available:
Name: Johnny Rodriguez
Occupation: Lieutenant – Riverside
Q: Introductory statement (e.g. who
See CANDIDATE/A5

Former mayor Oscar Galvan withdraws from election

By Cathyleen Rice
Times Reporter
After 10 years serving on
the Blythe City Council, Oscar
Galvan said he looks forward
to concluding this part of his
life in November.
Making the announcement
one hour after the closing dead-
line for council incumbents to
file paperwork on Aug. 4, Gal-
van said he believes he made
the right decision based on
personal matters; marking the
close of a decade in office since
his December 2007 installment.
Elected to serve one term
as mayor and two terms on
council, Galvan said, “I really
enjoyed my time on council.
Being mayor was wonderful. I
enjoyed going out meeting peo-
ple, talking to people and going
to all these events.“
Doing a sit down interview
with the Times, Galvan dis-
cussed his reasoning for not
running for re-election, where
he hopes to see Blythe in the
coming years and some ap-
proaches he believes the new
City Council leaders should
take when handling upcoming
and important decisions.
Why have you decided not to run
for your incumbent council seat this
coming election? Was there one fac-
tor in particular? If so, what?
Mostly I’m leaving because of health
problems. I needed to move closer to my
wife’s doctors in the Coachella Valley.
It’s nothing against these doctors here,
it’s just that she has and needs specialty
doctors, who she sees there. Also, I just of pace, because things took so long to get
kind of feel like it’s time for some people done, which is what really bothered me,
who have new ideas to get in there . ... I but I would say my experience on council
think after three terms, you shouldn’t be was wonderful. It had its ups and downs,
allowed to run anymore. We need to get
new people in there; young people who What was the toughest?
have a lot of energy. I’m at the point now Getting used to the government
process of how long it took to get things
where I’m getting just a little too old for
that. done, that was the toughest part of my
job. Working for UPS for 30 years, they
How would you sum up your expe- do everything fast, [but] city government
rience on the council seat? consists of a lot of red tape and it takes a
I enjoyed my experience on council. I long time to get things done. It’s no fault
enjoyed when I got something done, but to the Blythe administration though.
I had to learn how to move at a slower See GALVAN/A5