Anyone who has been affected by hiring freezes, layoffs and
distant memories of pay increases in the private sector ought to be
outraged by an advisory board’s recommendation of an 11 percent
increase in water rates for municipal users.
1. Residents ought to be outraged
Anyone who has been affected by hiring freezes, layoffs and distant memories of pay increases in the private sector ought to be outraged by an advisory board’s recommendation of an 11 percent increase in water rates for municipal users.
Anyone who has heard about governmental budget crunches, reduced services and political overspending ought to be outraged by the recommendation.
Anyone who is struggling in this, the worst economy in recent memory, ought to be outraged by the recommendation.
The Santa Clara Valley Water Commission voted Jan. 28 to advise the local water district to approve the increase in the cost of wholesale water. Staff of the Santa Clara Valley Water District presented six different scenarios of projected water use, water rate changes and cost cuts to the water commission, SCVWD Senior Project Manager Darin Taylor told reporter Michael Moore.
2. It’s an annual occurrence
Only two of the 30-plus members of the commission, Morgan Hill Public Works Director Jim Ashcraft and Gilroy Councilman Craig Gartman, voted against the recommendation. Ashcraft said he did so because the city has never supported water rate increases in the past, and water district staff have not adequately demonstrated why such a rate hike is needed.
“I said there are some things I like (in the scenario approved), especially a $12 million reduction in expenditures. But I voted ‘No’ because the preliminary staff review indicated an increase in (water rates),” Ashcraft said.
And, if approved, it won’t be the first. In fact, water rates have risen at least 6.5 percent every year since 2002, and what once cost $140 an acre foot in 2002, now costs $275 and could reach more than $300 if the district’s board of directors approves the increase later this year.
An acre-foot is enough water to supply two families of five for one year. Last year, the district raised water rates by 7.8 percent. The SCVWD provides wholesale water to municipalities within the county, who in turn sell water to their residential and commercial users.
3. Time for citizen outrage
Enough is enough. Our South Valley water district representatives, Sig Sanchez and Rosemary Kamei, have failed at protecting users from such rate increases. It’s fair to wonder just who they represent, the rate payers and farmers in the South Valley or the preservation of the water district bureaucracy.
One of the problems is voter apathy. Very few residents attend the Tuesday meetings in San Jose, though the weekly agenda is online. Another problem is that there is no oversight other than by the voters. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors no longer approves the district’s annual budget. So that oversight falls on voters. Now is the time for some righteous citizen outrage. We deserve water district directors who will keep their obligations to citizens, not district employees, as their top priority.
