Ability to Pay and Ability to Continue in Business. The ability to pay and to continue in business factor must be considered when assessing administrative civil liabilities. If the Water Board has sufficient financial information to assess the Discharger’s ability to pay the Total Base Liability or to assess the effect of the Total Base Liability on the Discharger’s ability to continue in business, then the Total Base Liability amount may be adjusted downward. In this matter, the Discharger is an ongoing entity with the ability to raise revenue to satisfy the liability proposed through the imposition of fees and taxes and there is no information presented to date that would evidence the inability to pay.
Ability to Pay and Ability to Continue in Business. The ability to pay and to continue in business factor must be considered when assessing administrative civil liabilities. The California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation is a state agency with a Fiscal Year 16-17 budget of over $10 billion1. As such, it should have the ability to pay a penalty in the millions of dollars.
Ability to Pay and Ability to Continue in Business. The Enforcement Policy provides that if the North Coast Water Board has sufficient financial information necessary to assess the violator’s ability to pay the Total Base Liability or to assess the effect of the Total Base Liability on the violator’s ability to continue in business, then the Total Base Liability Amount may be adjusted downward. The Settling Respondents’ have raised an inability to pay defense and have provided the Prosecution Staff with information that suggests that Settling Respondents do not have the ability to pay the total base liability amount without selling the Property. This conclusion is based upon Settling Respondents’ submission of most recently available information on an “Individual Ability To Pay Claim” form which is signed under penalty of perjury and supporting documentation. The Settling Respondents, however, are known to cultivate marijuana and Prosecution Staff has no independent means of verifying whether or not the Settling Respondents have a source of income that is under reported or not otherwise reported in the Settling Respondents’ financial submittals. While this asserted inability to pay has been a consideration in settling this matter at the liability proposed, Prosecution Staff does not feel that they have sufficient financial information to accurately adjust the Total Base Liability amount based on the Settling Respondents ability to pay.
Ability to Pay and Ability to Continue in Business. The City has the ability to pay the total base liability amount based on the following information: The Discharger has an annual operating budget of approximately $34 million for fiscal year 2009. The Discharger also has authority to adjust its sewer-rate scale to provide for financial needs. According to a survey of monthly Bay Area sewer services charges conducted by the Collection System Committee of the Bay Area Clean Water Agencies for the period ending September 30, 2009, the Discharger’s monthly collection sewer rate is $22.24, which is above the average collection sewer rate for the seven East Bay collection system communities (i.e., Cities of Oakland, Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, and Piedmont, and the Xxxxx Sanitary District).
Ability to Pay and Ability to Continue in Business. The Enforcement Policy provides that if there is sufficient financial information to assess the violator’s ability to pay the total base liability or to assess the effect of the total base liability on the violator’s ability to continue in business, then the liability may be adjusted downward if warranted. The Discharger is a large glass manufacturer in the United States; it has plants throughout the country and has not raised the issue of the ability to pay. The Discharger has agreed to pay the agreed upon penalty and therefore, this factor was not reduced.
Ability to Pay and Ability to Continue in Business. The ability to pay and to continue in business factor must be considered when assessing administrative civil liabilities. The Enforcement Policy provides that if staff anticipates that the Discharger’s ability to pay or ability to continue in business will be a contested issue in the proceeding, staff should conduct a simple preliminary asset search. Here, the Discharger is a Department of the City and County of San Francisco that provides retail drinking water and wastewater services to San Francisco, wholesale water to three Bay Area counties, and green hydroelectric and solar power to San Francisco's municipal departments. The Discharger has over 2,300 employees working in seven counties with a combined annual operating budget of over $700 million. According to the page 11 of SFPUC’s 2011 Annual Report (available at xxx.xxxxxxx.xxx), net assets exceed liabilities by nearly $2.0
Ability to Pay and Ability to Continue in Business. According to Lennar’s 2015 Annual Report, the gross profit on land sales were $30.1 million at the end of 2015 and $41.7 million by the end of 2014. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $831.1 million by the end of 2015 and $714.8 million by the end of 2014. The net income totaled $81.6 million in 2015 and $7.5 million by 2014 (2015 Annual Report, pg 33). The Discharger has the ability to pay the penalty and stay in business.
Ability to Pay and Ability to Continue in Business. The Enforcement Policy provides that if a Regional Water Board has sufficient financial information to assess the violator’s ability to pay the Total Base Liability Amount, or to assess the effect of the Total Base Liability Amount on the violator’s ability to continue in business, then the Total Base Liability may be adjusted. In this case, the Discharger is a publically-owned entity and the 2015 fiscal year audited financial statements are available through the Imperial Local Agency Formation Commission, with whom they are currently associated.2 To evaluate the Discharger’s ability to pay, the Prosecution Team utilized the US EPA financial model MUNIPAY (Version 5.6.0). MUNIPAY uses financial information input from the most recent financial statement and demographic data collected by the US Census Bureau for the local area. In this case, the MUNIPAY output indicates that the Discharger does not have the ability to pay the Total Base Liability Amount. The 2015 financial statements indicate that the Discharger’s current liabilities (or liabilities payable in the near- term) exceed current liabilities (e.g. cash) by over $350,000. In addition, annual operating expenses exceed revenue by nearly $20,000. Demographically, NSD’s service area has a median household income of $19,653 and has seen a population decline from 2000 to 2014 of 7%. Nearly 50% of the population within this service area earns less than 125% of the poverty line. Based on this analysis, it is unreasonable to conclude that the Discharger can afford to pay the Total Base Liability Amount without additional funding. Based on their financial situation, outside funding may not be available without a substantial user rate increase. Based on the demographic analysis, a rate increase may be prohibitive as the Discharger’s rates appear to exceed $40 per month. As funding was secured from Imperial County, the Discharger may have the ability to pay. Based on financial and demographic concerns, the Prosecution Team recommends a reduction in the Total Base Liability Amount, which assumes the funding secured from the County. The proposed Total Base Liability Amount reduction is discussed under the subsequent section.
Ability to Pay and Ability to Continue in Business. Please refer to previous discussion for “Ability to Pay and Ability to Continue in Business” for the CDO violations.
Ability to Pay and Ability to Continue in Business. The Enforcement Policy provides that if the Central Valley Water Board has sufficient financial information to assess the violator’s ability to pay the Total Base Liability, or to assess the effect of the Total Base Liability on the violator’s ability to continue in business, then the Total Base Liability amount may be adjusted downward. Similarly, if a violator’s ability to pay is greater than similarly situated dischargers, it may justify an increase in the amount to provide a sufficient deterrent effect. The City of Vacaville has the ability to pay the penalty. The City’s 2015-2016 Operating Budget and Capital Improvement Program was adopted on 23 June 2015 and states that the General Fund reserve is projected to be $18.32 million.
