Peninsula’s water district makes leap in Cal Am buyout, could make offer by mid-January
Growing impatient with the crop of political and legal obstacles in its way, the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District’s board of directors unanimously voted Aug. 15 to step on the accelerator in carrying out the voter-supported effort to buy out private water utility California American Water. The $315,000 the board agreed to spend so an appraisal firm can calculate the price value of Cal Am’s local assets is the last step before the governmental agency decides whether to submit an offer for the system. The degree of precision in estimating the value of the system will depend on whether Cal Am voluntarily lets the appraisal firm onto their property, a decision Cal Am has not yet made according to its spokesperson Josh Stratton.