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Homeowners in the Castlewood area received a formal notice from Alameda County last week that the property tax water charges were going to be subject to a special assessment of $6,829.27 per household.
The county Public Works Agency, which manages the Castlewood county service area in unincorporated Pleasanton, recommended the charge to the Board of Supervisors that originally approved it last fall to cover a $1.4 million shortfall from two prior fiscal years. The Castlewood Property Owners Association filed legal action challenging the assessment because they contended the county did not follow the procedure spelled out in Proposition 218 that requires polling of the affected people.
When the parties settled the suit earlier this year, the Prop 218 process was required. Property owners received formal notice from the county last week. The assessment will take effect unless more than 50% of the property owners formally protest in writing to the board. If people do not file a protest, it counts the same as a yes vote.
The supervisors will take formal action on the charge at its regular board meeting on June 17. Letters are due to the county by June 16.
The Castlewood association board has been preparing for the election and rolled out an announcement the final week in April. It followed up with another email this Monday that included the formal wording required for the ballot. All homeowners, if they objected, had to do was add their address and sign the form. The association has recruited block captains to collect the protest forms.
Association vice president Mike Mitchell, often the spokesman for the board, said they hope to get well over a majority of the homeowners objecting. If the supervisors receive more than 50% protest letters, then the assessment dies.
Property owners are smarting because the county raised the water charge on their property tax bill for 2024-25 by 172%. The association members pay the highest water charges in the county, topping even the city of Pleasanton after its hotly debated increase.
Castlewood homeowners saw their water maintenance and operations charge soar from $1,089 to $2,958, or $338 for 330 units per year. City of Pleasanton rates, even after the hefty increases, are $180 while Dublin San Ramon Services District customers pay $169 and Fremont area users pay $168.
The association’s core contention is that the county mismanages the district with little regard to costs. The system uses pumps to move well water from near The Club at Castlewood’s Valley golf course uphill to new stainless steel water tanks. The gravity flow system feeds the country club and 193 residential units within the club boundaries as well as homes along Foothill Road, Oak Lane and north of the club.
Rented emergency generators provide electricity in a power outage, but they are not connected to the pumps. To turn them on, a homeowner must notify the company managing water and sewer so it can dispatch an employee to get the pumps working again.
The board said the bid for installing new stainless steel water tanks — work that had to be done — ran $1.3 million over budget. The county letter also cited leaks and pump failures during the fiscal years of 2022-23 and 2023-24 resulting in the shortfall.
Homeowners within the country club boundaries also know they are facing significant road repairs, and there’s only about $60,000 in that fund.
The assessment ballot is an important step, but not the only one facing the board and residents. As part of the settlement, the association and the county agreed to cooperate to form a more responsive governing body. That could be a community service area that would directly elect its representatives and contract for management services with the final authority remaining with the supervisors.
Board members also are interested in pursuing an annexation to Pleasanton, but those discussions have not started. Given the city’s budget challenges, it would have to be revenue-positive for Pleasanton.
Prior discussions about annexation to Pleasanton have not moved forward.
One key point in a separate district is how much of the property tax would go to the district versus how much the county would retain. It would continue to provide police services through the sheriff’s department and CalFire and Pleasanton/Livermore (depending upon response time) provide fire protection. Mitchell estimated that the property tax total could range from $70,000 to $500,000.
Homes within the service area range from newer custom mansions to single-story smaller homes built 60 or 70 years ago. Ownership has transferred over the years so now about half of the residents are members of the country club compared to most in past decades.
Editor’s note: Correspondent Tim Hunt and his family live within the Castlewood service area.
