The city is preparing to raise water and sewer service rates again, and Mayor Jerry Sanders, along with officials from the Water and Metropolitan Wastewater Department, have been letting residents know how much more they could be paying.
Under the plan, the average single-family residential bill would increase about $1.40 per month starting Jan. 1, 2008. However, Sanders said the public will have a chance to protest the planned increases by way of a Proposition 218-mandated notice and form mailed to ratepayers.
The city will mail the Proposition 218 notice around the first week of August to inform ratepayers about the increases. The City Council approved the issuance of the notice June 30.
The notice consists of a newsletter explaining the fee increase and includes a form, or coupon, for those who wish to protest the rate increases. Those objecting to the increase can fill out the form and mail it to the City Clerk’s Office, 202 C St., second floor, San Diego, CA 92101.
The city sends the notice to ratepayers and property owners through the mail separate from the water bill. The public has until the hearing date of Saturday, Oct. 8, to submit a written protest.
Should more than half of the city’s 275,000 ratepayers protest the increase, the city may have to cut funding from other projects to pay for the higher prices, according Jim Barrett, the city’s Water Department director.
“But that’s what Prop. 218 is designed to do ” to let people have a voice in their government, and hopefully they’re informed and they make the correct choice,” Barrett said.
Passed in 1996, Proposition 218 requires the city to seek approval from ratepayers for “fees or charges for property related services,” according to language in the bill.
Sanders said the higher rates for water is a “pass-through” increase from the San Diego County Water Authority (CWA). On June 28, the CWA voted to increase rates to all of its customers, effective Jan. 1, 2008, to cover higher costs for infrastructure, maintenance and water purchases. Sanders said the city buys about 90 percent of its customers’ water from the CWA.
“The cost of water is going up because of the fact that it has to be piped in and because of the fact that we’ve got a scarcity of it,” Sanders said.
Sanders said San Diego has been in a period of drought for the last two years.
Although the rates for water and sewer services would increase for everyone, sewer-service costs will decrease by about $3.25 per month for eligible single-family residents because of a lawsuit filed against the city in 2004.
“For 10 years the city didn’t charge businesses correctly,” Sanders said. “And the courts basically said that single-family residences subsidized businesses, so this is paying back the single-family residences for about 10 years of overcharging.”
The credit is part of a $40 million settlement agreement from a class-action lawsuit brought by Michael Shames on behalf of affected ratepayers.
As a result of the Shames legal action, single-family residences with sewer service on or before Sept. 30, 2004, get the rebate for the next four years, Sanders said. The credit will continue until October 2011.
This overall increase in wastewater rates comes on the heels of an increase passed by the City Council in February, which took effect May 1, according to the city’s website.
That increase was intended to cover the cost of replacing about 45 miles of wastewater pipes per year and is the result of a previous lawsuit brought against the city on behalf of San Diego Coastkeeper, known as San Diego Baykeeper at the time, and the Surfrider Foundation, according to Coastkeepers attorney Marco Gonzalez.
The environmental groups sued the city about seven years ago over the deteriorating conditions of the city’s sewer system, Gonzalez said. The suit resulted in upgrades to the city’s sewer system, enhanced monitoring and reporting of sewer spills through the year 2013, Gonzalez said.
Since 2000 the city has had about a 75 percent reduction in sewer spills per year, which at that time averaged one per day, according the city’s website.
Gonzalez said the city’s capital improvements, along with other upgrades to the city’s wastewater system, would cost a total of about $1 billion. He said the final paperwork should be signed by the end of this summer.
“There’s a process that’s still under way,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve all agreed it’s a pretty done deal,”
As the city tackles its water and wastewater issues, Sanders, the Regional Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the CWA are asking residents and ratepayers to conserve water.
Sanders said the average household could save about $1.90 a month on water charges by accepting the “20-gallon challenge.”
Sanders is asking all residents to try to conserve 20 gallons of water per day to help meet future demand.
“We’re trying to save as much water this year as we possibly can so we don’t have mandatory cutbacks next year, because that affects everybody in a drastic way,” Sanders said.
Sanders said a majority of San Diego’s water is used for landscaping and irrigation. He said residents can save water by adjusting sprinkler systems and by planting native, drought-resistant plants.
For more information on water conservation tips and incentive programs, visit the County Water Authority website at www.sdcwa.org.