Candidate for
Council Member; City of Chula Vista; Seat 2

About Larry Breitfelder

Larry Breitfelder is best known as an elected official for the Otay Water District and an advocate for fiscal reform in Chula Vista city government.

Larry grew up across the street from Kellogg elementary school near the corner of Melrose and Naples St. He attended Bonita Vista Jr. and Senior High as well as classes before and after receiving his BA from the University of San Diego.

His introduction to business began in the early 90's in the field of property management. Currently he is an Investment Associate for Southern California Real Estate and Investments Inc.

Over the years, Larry has been involved in many community and charitable endeavors. These have included service as a tutor for the Chula Vista Adult Literacy Center, participation in pharmacy section of a medical mission to Eastern Samar in the Philippines and continuing work in the City of San Diego's Conservation Action Committee.

Rising to the Challenge of Crisis: Reform

During the few years before Larry was elected in 2002, the Otay Water District was an important public asset in distress. The district was under investigation by assorted government agencies including the FBI and his predecessor was subject to a restraining order to prevent threats and harassment against employees. Fortunately, whether in a water utility or a city, crisis offers the opportunity for long term improvement through reform.

Sometimes reform is just about money, sometimes its also about values and priorities. Bearing in mind that any cooperative endeavor requires a foundation of trust and confidence, Otay's state of trauma was serious concern. This challenge was met by a commitment to a new "Ethic of Respect" and a refocus on the district's public service mission.

For as many years as anyone can remember, the water infrastructure required for new development had always been subsidized by existing residents. A 35% increase in developer fees was required to remedy this injustice. Doing the right thing was an unpopular decision among many in a powerful corporate interest group, but sometimes that's the price you pay.

More recently many in the public have asked "how can government approve new housing when we don't have enough water for the people who live in San Diego now?'. Larry came to the conclusion long ago that new development should pay the cost of providing new or conserved water resources equal to what it is expected to consume. At his urging, the Otay Water District adopted a developer paid "New Water Resources" Fee to pay the full cost of securing fresh water supplies for their new developments.

Independent and innovative policies can do a lot of good, but much of life boils down to the bottom line of getting the public its best long term value for its dollar. During Larry's time in office the Otay Water District has become a model of strategic planning and the application of information technology. These profitable investments combined to both inspire and complement an increase in the District Bond Rating to AA. Given his share of credit for saving the public millions, few were surprised when Larry was reelected in 2006 without opposition.

Helping to Fix Chula Vista: The Chula Vista Taxpayers Association

The progress and stability that Larry was instrumental in providing through his elected position allowed him to shift his focus to more citywide concerns. As a member of the Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce Public Policy and Economic Development committees, Larry was appalled to learn of our city's infrastructure maintenance and replacement deficit of over $300 million. At that moment he decided that Chula Vista needs a taxpayer Association and set out to organize one.

Over the course of two years the Chula Vista Taxpayer Association has become known as a responsible and balanced bipartisan organization dedicated to saving taxpayer money through promoting open, accountable and responsible government.

As President of the CVTA, Larry was honored to encourage a higher budgetary priority for maintaining infrastructure and take the lead in opposing dishonest taxes. These included the "sneaky tax" which was designed to get the public to vote for an increased telephone tax by making it sound like a tax cut, the "phony tax" which is a tax on businesses for a fire inspection that is not based on safety risk and is not assured to ever occur anyway.

Believing that a 10% sales tax would do more harm than good for Chula Vista's economy and quality of life, Larry suspended his recently announced candidacy for city council to focus on defeating the proposed tax (Prop A). In addition to his normal duties as spokesperson for the CVTA on this issue, Larry spent countless hours going door to door to personally persuade Chula Vistans to reject the tax.

The Chula Vista Taxpayer Association has taken the position that the public gets its best value for its money when city construction projects are awarded to the lowest qualified bid from a qualified company. As you can imagine, powerful interests who benefit from contracts only going to union companies are threatened by this position and may retaliate during the election campaign. Larry did not have to adopt this position as a city council candidate, but did so because it is fundamental to getting our city's fiscal house in order and as a matter of fairness to the approximately 85% of construction workers from Chula Vista who do not happen to belong to a union.

Larry continues to serve as President of the CVTA, though he does not currently serve as its spokesperson in order to avoid a conflict of interest detrimental to that important organization.