TOAV doesn’t add up (August 22, 2015)

On Aug. 11, the Apple Valley Town Council received the Transparency Report regarding Apple Valley Ranchos Water Company acquisition efforts with cost for D. Hayward (valuation appraiser) of $127,400. Only four warrants have been approved by Town Council action for a total of $79,446.65. Where is the missing one or more warrants that have been paid for to equate to the difference of $47,953.35? The one valuation with data as of Jan. 1, 2014 has been removed from the Town’s website and no updated valuation posted, but consultant payments continue and more recent valuation data is on the California Public Utilities Commission website. Why?

Public Records Act Requests are estimated to cost $84,965 (staff) and $68,870 (attorney) for the 2011-2015 period and 60 requests. Only 27 are assessed to be related to Ranchos’ acquisition. Several others are for citizens providing details of 140+ missing warrants ($1.6 million) and $12 million in appraisal addition calculation errors which were not corrected immediately by staff, but now are mistakenly included in Ranchos’ report. Why?

The town’s ‘Just Compensation’ offer of $50.3 million is not a real number according to someone smarter than a fifth-grader as there is not a sufficient number of zeros for a real property offer exactness.

Al Rice, Apple Valley

Source: Daily Press