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California water — and how we see it

Source: sjvwater.org

Kings County groundwater agency increases expenses without secure funding source

Fetched 2026-07-21 08:00 from sjvwater.org

Reading Summary (AI-generated)

Reading Summary: South Fork Kings GSA Funding Crisis

Key Facts

Who Is Affected

Policy/Legal Angle

Blog Angles

  1. SGMA accountability gap: How can a probationary GSA approve a contract that nearly doubles administrative costs while relying on voluntary, unconfirmed revenue — and what enforcement tools does the Water Board actually have?
  2. Domestic well program as leverage: Gailey’s claim that South Fork won’t “pay for” the well mitigation program but won’t “abandon” it — what does that mean in practice, and who picks up the tab for low-income rural households?
  3. Governance red flags: Board Chair Neves’s criticisms (missed bank transfers, incomplete audits, inflated admin costs) raise questions about GSA oversight structures statewide — is South Fork an outlier or a pattern?

Full Text

Kings County groundwater agency increases expenses without secure funding source

A Kings County groundwater agency nearly doubled its manager’s salary and added two part-time assistants even as it scrambles to find a secure revenue source.

At its July 16 meeting, the South Fork Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) approved a $354,996 contract with Green Acres Consulting to continue managerial services by General Manager Johnny Gailey.

The GSA approved the contract despite the fact that it has yet to nail down an ongoing, reliable source of revenue. One board member, who voted against the contract, said the contract nearly doubled the district’s administrative costs

Board member and Chair Joe Neves also said that Gailey failed to do basic administrative tasks, such as transferring money from one bank account to another and completing an audit on the GSA.

“Those are the simple things that we should be doing now that aren’t happening, just has me concerned,” Neves said before the vote.

The contract caused concern among other board members as well.

Patricia Matthews, who was filling in on the board for Frank Gornick, took nearly a full minute before finally voting “yes.” Her long silence raised eyebrows.

“Do you vote like this in the city?” Neves asked Matthews.

“Only one other time,” Matthews responded. “I sure wish Frank was here.”

The contract passed 4-1.

Neves said administration costs should account for 10% of a budget, but South Fork’s show a 19% administrative cost.

“I would feel better if that administrative load was closer to $80,000,” Neves said.

Gailey said only about $50,000 of the contract was for administrative matters. The other costs covered outreach, communication, coordination and engineering support.

“Every one of those skills you said is an administration of this district,” Neves argued.

The new contract sets Gailey at a $225 hourly rate, based on 102.3 hours worked per month.

Gailey told SJV Water he will bill South Fork for his hours, just like any other consultant and he doesn’t expect to go over the hours allowed.

Still, the contract allows Gailey to earn a maximum of $276,204 annually. Last year, the district paid him $132,000 on a $11,000 monthly fixed salary for 20 hours a week.

The contract also adds an assistant engineering tech, who would earn $30,600 at $85 an hour and an administrative assistant, earning $48,996 at $65 an hour.

Just last month, the GSA approved its fiscal year 2026-27 $2.1 million budget based on a “hypothetical” revenue source of asking pumpers to pay a voluntary $16 per-acre-foot fee for using “sustainable yield,” or the amount that can be extracted without causing negative impacts.

The management contract caused prompted questions from at least one spectator at the meeting.

Kings County farmer Garrett Gilcrease asked what the GSA would do when it eventually ran out of cash.

Cut funding to its domestic well program, was the answer. That program is intended to fix household wells damaged by over pumping and is a key focus of the state Water Resources Control Board.

The Water Board placed the Tulare Lake subbasin, which covers most of Kings County, on probation in 2024 for lacking an adequate groundwater plan that would stem subsidence, land sinking, and protect household wells – among other deficiencies.

Probation comes with reporting and fee requirements and if locals can’t come up with an adequate plan in the near future, the state could impose its own pumping limits on farmers.

“I personally feel like abandoning well mitigation is just rescinding any possibility of getting it passed,” Gilcrease said of the region’s fledgling groundwater plan that has yet to be submitted to the state.

Gailey clarified that South Fork wouldn’t abandon the program, it just wouldn’t pay for it. He didn’t explain how the program would continue without funding.