Imagine this, you walk into your boss's office and say that your expenses are up, you need a new car and therefore you want a 26-percent raise over the next 18 months. Then, if the boss is not doubled over with laughter or apoplexy, you continue - you want an added raise that will triple your current pay in short order. That's exactly what's happening if you're a customer of the Sunnyslope County Water District (SCWD) except you'll be doing the paying not the asking.
I supported Hollister's Wastewater Treatment Plant that is now costing me $856 a year in user fees. I believe clean, good quality, water is essential. However, before that project was approved, the city did extensive outreach and provided details and justifications for the costs. They also opened themselves to questions, complaints and suggestions; no such luck with the SCWD.
If more than 50 percent of the customers do not file a detailed written protest against the fee hike by July 9, 2009, it's a done deal. As always, it's up to you to decide if you'll go though the trouble, but what do you really know about the rate increase and those that are sure to follow?
My family uses slightly less water than the average SCWD residential customer. I took that monthly usage, ran it, and discovered that my current $483 annual bill would increase to $610 (26 percent) by December 2010. Unfortunately, that's only the tip of the iceberg. Extending the increases to cover the future planned expenses, I estimate that my bill will triple to almost $1,500 annually in several years.
Those added increases are hidden in the following short statement from the water district, "... additional future rate increases are likely." They are not likely - they are virtually certain under the current plan. Why would SCWD be raising rates to generate millions of dollars to acquire land and design a water treatment plant if they do not intend to build it?
I can't currently support this huge increase for several good reasons. The first is that the presentation is dishonest because it's intentionally incomplete. It is the first step of a larger and much more expensive project and the district's customers deserve to know the details of what they are getting into and where it will lead before they start paying for it piecemeal.
The second it that the master plan requires that the costs be distributed in general proportion to the benefits and the rate increase proposal contains no information on how, or even if, that was accomplished. Are the other beneficiaries paying their fair share or are the costs being passed, unfairly, to city residents? By the way, shouldn't the Hollister City Council do more to protect their citizen's interests in this matter even at early phase?
The third reason is that the master plan requires regional solutions to the water quality issues and this first phase is being rush through without formal regional coordination, just an agreement to delay upcoming increases.
Finally, I want to know what the SCWD has done to keep the customer's costs down. Are they taking advantage of current economic conditions to get bargains or are they paying top dollar - they are not providing details.
Taken together those are ample reasons for me to say no. SCWD is in the water business, but they should have also noticed that the landscape has changed dramatically. The district's customers are paying the bills, they deserve comprehensive cost information and they need answers to all the above questions before approving a massive rate increase with more and bigger increases to follow.
Marty Richman is a Hollister resident. His column runs Tuesdays. Reach him at cwo4mgr@yahoo.com.
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