TO: Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency
FROM: Brian D. Bordona, Director of Planning, Building and Environmental Services
REPORT BY: Jamison Crosby, Natural Resources Conservation Manager
SUBJECT: Levy and Collection of Fees for Fiscal Year 2026-27 for the Groundwater Sustainability Agency.
RECOMMENDATION
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Adopt a Resolution of the Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency temporarily reducing fees for Fiscal Year 2026-27 and authorizing levy and collection of the fees on property tax bills. (Fiscal Impact: $752,350 Revenue; Groundwater Sustainability Agency Fund; Budgeted; Discretionary)
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BACKGROUND
On December 9, 2025, the Board of Directors of the Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency (NCGSA) adopted Resolution 2025-05, establishing a Groundwater Sustainability Fee (Fee) in the Napa Valley Subbasin, as authorized by California Water Code ? 10730, to support implementation of the Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP). The Fee methodology is documented in the Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency Rate and Fee Study (Fee Study), prepared by SCI Consulting Group (SCI)
The Fee Study apportions costs to three groundwater user classes based on the average percentage of pumping within each user class from 2019 to 2024: 1) agricultural groundwater users, 2) self-supplied groundwater users (largely domestic groundwater users), and 3) public water system (PWS) groundwater users. Costs are designated as either "Common Costs," which provide benefit broadly to all groundwater users, or "Applied Groundwater Use Costs," which provide a heightened benefit to agricultural and water system groundwater users. The Fee Study demonstrates that the Fee is not a tax, that the amount charged is no more than necessary to cover the reasonable costs of the governmental activity, and that the manner in which those costs are allocated bears a fair and reasonable relationship to each payor's burdens on, or benefits received from, the governmental act...
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