It may not be a major trespass against We the People – but some say it’s the little things that speak volumes.
“On the west side of Alton Parkway, just north of Irvine Blvd., is a parcel of fenced property with an Irvine Ranch Water District sign attached to the gate,” an irate citizen wrote to The Watchdog recently. “There are two large storage tanks on the property and a large paved parking area. On this parking lot are several (30-50) recreational vehicles, trailers, boats, etc.
“My concern and interest is (in) who these recreational units belong to,” he continued. “My suspicion is that they are privately owned by IRWD employees. Are these employees receiving free RV storage? If they are paying for the storage, is it calculated at fair market value?”
The answer: Irvine Ranch Water District workers are, indeed, allowed to park their personal RVs, boats, trailers and other oversized vehicles on district land – a perk worth some $2,000 annually – almost for free.
Irvine Ranch employees pay a “nominal fee” of $5 per month to store their vehicles behind a chain-link fence surrounding two drinking water reservoirs, spokeswoman Beth Beeman told us.
“IRWD has been discussing the difference between the nominal monthly fee charged to employees who store personal vehicles as compared to the fair market value for vehicle storage and has concluded that this difference will be included on the appropriate W-2 tax documents provided by the district,” Beeman said, thanking us for bringing the issue to the district’s attention (which we pay forward to the citizen).
Before the end of this year, Irvine Ranch will survey other RV providers in the area to determine the fair market value of the RV space, she said. The difference between the $5 monthly fee and the fair market value will be included on employees’ year end W-2, reporting taxable income to Uncle Sam.
So kudos to Irvine Ranch. The public-employees-parking-RVs-on-public-property-for-free-or-almost-free thing has come up before – and officials weren’t exactly thankful we brought it up.
About a year ago, after a tip from a different irate citizen, Watchdog reported that Garden Grove firefighters were parking their RVs on city property at no charge.
The benefit has been part of the firefighters’ contract for at least a decade, and, “Once something is in a labor contract, God and man aren’t going to get it out,” former human resources director John Clark said at the time.
It raised the question: Is this a gift of public funds?
Legally, one could say it’s a bit sticky. State law bans public employees from using public resources for strictly personal purposes if the user’s gain is substantial enough that a monetary value can be estimated. “Incidental” use of public resources, such as making an occasional personal phone call from an office phone, is fine.
One might argue that the $150 to $200 monthly charge found at local commercial storage facilities is, you know, substantial enough that a monetary value can be estimated. Irvine Ranch apparently thinks so.
Garden Grove’s Clark said free RV storage isn’t a misuse of public funds because the benefit was negotiated and approved in the open – as opposed to a favor done in private. But that explanation struck a sour note with some.
“I think the statements by city officials that this use of public property is not a gift of public funds is very weak,” said Al Hendricker of Huntington Beach. “(U)ntil this is challenged in the courts, we will never know whether or not this is appropriate. …
“However, if it is part of the firefighter’s union collectively-bargained contract with Garden Grove, then certainly the value of such use ($1,700 to $2,500 a year) should be considered income to each employee using RV storage whether storage is done on an annual basis, monthly, or weekly. As such the value of parking use should be taxable income to the employee and reported to the IRS and Franchise Tax Board.”
The Garden Grove firefighters’ contract remains in force through 2015, and nothing on the RV-parking front has changed since last year, officials told us.
For Irvine Ranch’s part, the land surrounding the reservoirs ensures that the district has “adequate room for the construction and ongoing maintenance of the reservoirs,” Beeman said. If the district needed to, say, re-paint the steel reservoirs, the vehicles would be removed from the site for the duration of the project.
Contact the writer: tsforza@ocregister.comTwitter: @ocwatchdog
