The Board of Directors of Humboldt County Services District voted Tuesday for water and sewer rate increases, with two of five directors dissenting. Rates would eventually increase over the next five years by a total of 88% and start increasing Aug. 1.
South Coast Water District ratepayers will see an average increase of 7% in their water rates and a 12% average increase in their sewer rates starting July 1, following a governing board vote on June 22.
On average, starting July 1, residents may see a $5.79 increase in their water bills and an $8.99 increase in their sewer bills, according to South Coast Water.
After holding three public workshops on water, recycled water and sewer rate studies and conducting a revenue needs analysis, the district concluded the rate increase is necessary to provide “financial stability and funding reserves” according to a SCWD staff report.
In a prepared statement, SCWD said the rate increases are the result of the “implementation of critical capital improvement projects, meeting our debt service convergence to maintain our credit rating, and maintaining our reserves to meet the District’s targets.”
The Vallejo Flood and Wastewater district will have its final public hearing tonight on a proposal to increase residential sewer rates.
Under the plan, sewer rates for Vallejo homeowners will increase by an average of $108 per year for 5 years. Each year monthly rates will rise by an average of $9 bringing the current rate of $64.12 per month or $768.44 per year to $109.18 per month or $1,310.16 per year by July 2027. A comparable increase in commercial and industrial rate schedules is also part of the proposal.
San Diego sewer customers living in single-family homes should prepare for some sticker shock when their rates spike 17 percent this week — and 31 percent over the next four years.
The sharp increases are the result of a comprehensive study that showed single-family sewer customers haven’t been paying enough while other customers — businesses, apartments and condos — have been paying too much.
Carlsbad plans to increase its water and sewer rates in 2022, the first of three steps that will boost the average family’s current monthly combined water and sewer bill by a total of $24.78 in 2024.
The City Council voted unanimously last week to set a public hearing on the new rates for 5 p.m. Jan. 11. If approved, the first higher rate will take effect on March 1 with additional increases on Jan. 1 of the next two years.
San Diego’s sewer rates haven’t gone up in ten years. Now, the city is playing catch up with a four-year string of rate hikes they say is needed to maintain the aging system, and fund the Pure Water project.
The city says the increase was long overdue. But so are the unpaid water bills of thousands of lower income San Diegans. California’s pandemic water shutoff moratorium is set to end September 30.
Sewer rates for San Diegans in single-family homes would increase nearly 17 percent next year and a total of 31 percent over the next four years under a rate hike proposal the City Council is scheduled to consider Tuesday.
The proposal also would reduce sewer rates for most businesses, condos and apartments based on two comprehensive studies showing those customers have been paying too much, while single-family homes haven’t been paying enough.
If you live in San Diego and pay your own water and sewer bills, you should have gotten a mailer recently from the city government. It was easy to miss, but it has important details on how much the city wants to raise its rates, and included a way residents and businesses could potentially block the proposal.
Under the proposal, San Diego businesses and residents of apartment buildings would initially pay cheaper wastewater rates, while residents of single-family homes would see their rates go up. The changes are part of an overhaul to city fees used to maintain the sewage system.
San Diegans in single-family homes may get a modest reprieve from a city plan to increase sewer rates nearly 19 percent next year and a total of 28 percent over the next four years. The city recently got a legally mandated second opinion on a consultant’s analysis that was used to calculate the rate increases, and the second opinion says the increases should be more gradual and smaller. City officials concede the initial analysis may have been too “conservative,” prompting higher rate increases than necessary. They have agreed to incorporate the second opinion analysis into their recommendations for rate increases. The City Council is scheduled to receive those final recommendations in July and then vote on them in September, with new rates potentially taking effect in January for the city’s 2.2 million sewer customers.
San Diego officials have proposed a water and sewer rate hike to update city infrastructure as large changes are on the horizon, it was announced last week. The city is looking to increase wastewater rates by 5 percent starting January 2022, the first rate hike for that service in a decade. In addition, the city’s Public Utilities Department — which provides water and sewer services to customers, including Rancho Bernardans — is proposing to pass regional water cost increases to its customers in a 2 percent rate hike starting in 2022.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
