A TAXING QUESTION

People interested in the doings of the Sierra Lakes County Water District, up at Serene Lakes (Donner Summit), can armchair quarterback by reading old minutes on the SLCWD web page.  For quite some time now, closed-door sessions have revolved around the mysterious Placer County Parcel Number 069-020-068-000, aka the lake bottom for Lakes Serena and Dulzura, a small dam, and a bit of Serena/Ice Lakes Creek.

It seems negotiations have been ongoing for some time involving acquiring the lake bottom, either through outright purchase, or eminent domain.  Talk on the trails is that years ago, the water board neglected to purchase the lake bottom when the oppportunity arose, and the lake bottom's ownership tailed along with the Ice Lakes Lodge. Hence, when Todd Foster and Kirk Syme of Royal Gorge LLC purchased the lodge, they got a lake bottom in the bargain.

However, ownership of a lake bottom can be more of a burden than a blessing, especially when a public agency (SLCWD) possesses the rights to ALL the water in the lake, and then some.  After all, what's a lake bottom without water? Well, more than just a big mud pit, apparently, because Royal Gorge LLC has been playing hard to get, and a special appraiser has been hired by the water district, at a cost not to exceed $10,000, to value the lake bottom; the appraiser's wages may add up to more than the worth of the lake bottom. Oh, and speaking of mud pits--ownership of the lake bottom does NOT give Royal Gorge LLC the rights to dredge the lake, or raise the dam (flooding private property).  SLCWD, as the public agency with the appropriative rights to the water, has the burden of making decisions to ensure water supply and quality, and the duty to protect both Serene Lakes and the Serena/Ice Lakes Creek riparian habitat.  Royal Gorge LLC merely has the privilege of owning a (for them) valueless piece of property.

You see, if you look the parcel number on on Placer County's on-line tax pages, a curious thing comes to light.  There is absoluely no indication that Royal Gorge LLC has ever been assessed, or paid a penny of taxes on the 85.8 acre parcel, listed under the catergory, "Rivers, Lakes, Reservoir, Canal." If this is indeed the case, and not the result of gremlins in Placer County software,  it does seem a bit thick of Royal Gorge LLC to now try to extract the last drop from SLCWD.  And if it is also true that Royal Gorge LLC hasn't paid any taxes on an 85.8 parcel, please answer my taxing question: where do we line up to sign up for the same program?