The city of Chandler sent out thousands of postcards to roughly 27,000 Chandler households recently. Mayor Kevin Hartke said it’s to let them know that while part of their property taxes still pay for domestic water, Roosevelt Water Conservation District, known as RWCD, refuses to sell it to them.
“In our awareness campaign,” Hartke explained, “we have sent out these postcards that spell out that this year $1.7 million of Chandler resident taxes went to RWCD, without any water returning.”
Hartke said that rather than sell it to Chandler, the company has let unused water overflow from the dam where it’s held.
“They have arbitrarily decided not to sell us water,” he said, “to try to get us into a contract in which there is no certainty, long term certainty, of water supplies.”
Hartke said that throughout the past decade or so, the city’s request has been simple: not to be turned down when the water the company has agreed to sell them is available to purchase.
“We believe that Roosevelt needs to honor the contract that they signed with us in 2002,” he said. “And when they have water available, sell it to us.”
Still, he expressed hope that a deal can be struck without going back to court. While Hartke’s door is open, he said, the city plans to take the matter to the Arizona Supreme Court if they can’t reach an agreement. Otherwise, in the long term, the city will have to use Colorado River or groundwater to close the services gap.
The water district didn’t respond to calls for comment.
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