A proposal to expand the Port San Luis Harbor District from its current boundaries (shown in yellow) to include the entire county was denied by the Local Agency Formation Commission. LAFCo. map
An attempt to expand the boundaries of the Port San Luis Harbor District to engulf the entire county has failed.
The Local Agency Formation Commission or LAFCo., Board was asked on March 19 to approve a “Municipal Service Review and Sphere of Influence Study” prepared by LAFCo., staff. But a majority of the Board didn’t support the expansion of the District’s Sphere of Influence (SOI).
Board members questioned the justification for including the entire county in the SOI, when some communities — like Morro Bay, Cambria, and Cayucos — have their own beaches and access to the ocean.
They also have their own challenges keeping up with maintenance of public facilities, which was one of the justifications for increasing the Port’s SOI in the staff’s study.
The Municipal Service Review is a regular function of LAFCo., and every five years looks at the District’s responsibilities under State and Federal Law, comparing the revenue stream with being able to do everything required of them.
PSL’s district boundaries, established along with the Port District in 1954, stretch from South San Luis Obispo to Nipomo, encompassing all of Avila, Shell Beach, Pismo Beach, Grover City, Oceano, Arroyo Grande and Nipomo. It includes parts of Supervisory Districts 2 and 4, and all of Dist. 3. Indeed, Dist. 3 County Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg was the strongest supporter of increasing the SOI.
It currently covers about a third of SLO County’s land mass and has a population of a little over 137,000. The Port currently gets over $4.66 million a year through property taxes.
Its funding is bolstered by fees and rental income from a boatyard, moorings, piers ad other District property. The District owns the Avila and Harford piers, both of which are in rough shape and need major repairs; three public beaches; an RV campground; public restrooms; the Port San Luis Lighthouse; and over 200 offshore moorings.
They have a Harbor Patrol public safety crew to support, with some 25 employees in all.
The District’s budget is currently in the black, but LAFCo.’s projections showed the District’s revenues eventually falling behind expenses, signaling they would have difficulty fulfilling all of the duties and responsibilities foisted upon them by State and Federal mandates.
It should be noted that LAFCo.’s MSR/SOI study would not have immediately dropped a tax burden on the rest of the County. Rather, an SOI is a planning tool that looks 20-years out and identifies areas where a special district or a City might get tax revenues from in the future.
Port San Luis is different in that it doesn’t provide specific services like water or sewer treatment, as most special districts provide.
