FAIRFAX TOWN COUNCIL MEETING
STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE September 2, 2026
PREPARED FOR Mayor and Town Council
PREPARED BY Heather Abrams, Town Manager
SUBJECT Presentation from Ross Valley Sanitary District General Manager, Steve Moore
RECOMMENDATION
1. Receive a presentation from Ross Valley Sanitary District (RVSD) General Manager, Steve Moore.
2. Provide direction to staff regarding any additional reporting the Council wishes to receive from RVSD.
3. Establish a Council Liaison to RVSD’s Board, if the Council wishes to do so.
4. Decide whether to send the attached letter to Central Marin Sanitation Agency (CMSA) on behalf of Fairfax.
BACKGROUND
Mayor Hellman requested a presentation from Ross Valley Sanitary District (RVSD) General Manager, Steve Moore, regarding a dispute between RVSD and CMSA that could impact Fairfax RVSD rate payers.
On August 25, 2026 the Town of San Anselmo approved sending a letter to CMSA (item 1.8).
RVSD is an independent special district that operates and maintains approximately 200 miles of collection sewer lines and 19 pumping stations which collect, pump, and transport approximately four million gallons of wastewater per day to Central Marin Sanitation Agency (CMSA) for treatment.
Approximately 45% of the District’s collection system was installed prior to 1955.
RVSD’s service area includes Fairfax, San Anselmo, Ross, Larkspur, Bon Air, Sleepy Hollow, Kentfield, Kent Woodlands, Oak Manor and Greenbrae. The District’s 30+ member staff includes a General Manager, administrative/accounting personnel, field inspectors, and pump and line crew employees.
RVSD currently has an active local construction project (Fairfax Capacity and Creek Crossings Project | Ross Valley Sanitary District, CA).
DISCUSSION
Staff recommends that the Council and community hear the presentation from Ross Valley Sanitary District (RVSD) General Manager, Steve Moore. After the presentation, Council may provide direction to staff if they would like any further reports from RVSD, whether the Council would like to send the attached letter to CMSA, and decide if the Council would like to appoint a liaison to RVSD.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no direct fiscal impact associated with receiving this presentation.
ATTACHMENTS
Draft letter to CMSA
T O W N O F F A I R F A X
142 BOLINAS ROAD, FAIRFAX, CALIFORNIA 94930
PHONE (415) 453 - 1584 / FAX (415) 453 - 1618
September 2, 2026
Central Marin Sanitation Agency
1301 Andersen Drive
San Rafael, CA 94901
Dear Central Marin Sanitation Agency (CMSA) Board of Commissioners, The Town of Fairfax, a jurisdiction served by the Ross Valley Sanitary District (RVSD), is writing to state our position that we believe RVSD ratepayers are being unfairly overcharged under CMSA's new flowonly treatment cost allocation.
CMSA's April 14, 2026, vote to abandon its flow/strength allocation method — approved 3-2 over both RVSD commissioners' objections — significantly increased RVSD's annual treatment cost from $7,048,401.96 in 2025-26 to an estimated $7,831,097.04 in 2026-27. This is not a routine adjustment; it is a significant cost shift imposed without adequate technical or legal justification that increases sanitation agency costs for Fairfax residents.
RVSD engaged Water Resources Economics (WRE), an independent consultant, to review CMSA’s decision against industry practice and applicable law. WRE's findings are unambiguous. Among seven comparable California wholesale treatment agencies surveyed, only CMSA and one other rely on flowonly allocation; the rest use flow-strength or the closely related Equivalent Dwelling Unit method. Notably, CMSA's prior formula already weighted flow more heavily than peer agencies that use flow-strength — meaning CMSA was not correcting an outlier position but pushing an already flow-heavy method to its extreme.
WRE also contacted the Regional Water Board directly, which confirmed in writing that CMSA's NPDES permit does not prohibit the inclusion of wastewater strength in a flow-based rate structure — directly refuting the justification CMSA staff presented to the Commission. Separately, the Clean Water Act and its implementing regulations require that treatment charges reflect each member's proportionate share of wastewater loading, a term that explicitly includes strength, not volume alone. State guidelines permit flow-only allocation only for small service areas with no industrial users or where residential flow exceeds 95% of total design flow — conditions CMSA plainly does not meet.
Furthermore, Proposition 26 requires that treatment charges bear a fair and reasonable relationship to a payor's actual burden on the system. RVSD's wastewater is demonstrably lower in strength than that of other JPA members and San Quentin. A flow-only method that ignores this documented difference does not meet that standard and exposes CMSA and its member agencies to legal risk.
Therefore, the Town of Fairfax, on behalf of our residents and businesses, joins the Ross Valley Sanitary District in calling on the CMSA Commission to reverse this decision and reinstate the flow/strength method without further delay.
Respectfully,
Stephanie Hellman
Mayor
Town of Fairfax