The water district proposes a 52-cent hike in monthly bills
South County households can expect another 52-cent hike in their monthly water bills, under the latest increase proposed by the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
The proposed price hike falls at the lower end of possible increases projected by the district and matches a 52-cent increase instituted last year. The new rate will take effect in July if approved by water board directors following public comment next week.
While the annual increases hardly register on a family’s financial radar, they have added up over the last few years. Under the new rate, a family of five can expect to pay $115 for a year’s supply of water – double what they paid five years ago.
Rosemary Kamei, who is seeking re-election this June to the water district’s board of directors, said she has not decided if she will vote in favor of the increase. She voted against the last two rate hikes, which she said have been used to help finance the costs of new infrastructure, water treatment and other costs. She said a percentage of the increases are due to installation of water recycling equipment in Gilroy and Morgan Hill.
“One of the things I have found is we need to demonstrate to the community the value of what they get for that 52 cents,” she said of the increase. “It’s not a done deal.”
Terry Mahurin, a long-time critic of water district spending and a challenger for Kamei’s seat this June, said he was not surprised to see the increases. He blamed them on spiraling overhead costs at the water district and a multimillion dollar legal settlement with the federal government last year for unpaid water usage.
“That money is only going to come from one place – the rate payers,” Mahurin said. “We’ve had five consecutive years of increases, and it’s projected that we’ll have another nine years.”
The increases also are driven by the rising cost of imported water, investments in water “banking” outside of the county in case of drought and installation of automated groundwater monitoring equipment, according to Darin Taylor, a rate analyst for the water district.
He said the new fees for South County residents would generate an additional $630,000 each year for the water district. Three quarters of the funds will support water delivery service and the remaining quarter will go toward purchasing, or banking, water from sources outside the county. Taylor said the rate increases will not finance levees and other infrastructure projects.
If the district’s board of directors adopts the staff recommendation for an increase, water for municipal and industrial use will go up $15 per acre-foot to $230. An acre-foot of water equals an area roughly the size of a football field filled to a depth of one foot. It is enough water to supply two families of five for about a year. Under the proposed increase, North County rates would rise $20 per acre-foot to $435. Water for agriculture would cost $23 an acre-foot.
South County residents account for roughly 15 percent of the 400,000 acre-feet of water used in Santa Clara County each year.
While the costs of that usage have climbed steadily in recent years, the latest rate increase is not a foregone conclusion, according to Sig Sanchez, a member of the water district’s board of directors.
“We analyze it from the financial standpoint obviously – that’s priority number one – and by water supply and availability,” he said. “We’ll go through the hearing process and then make a decision.”
The board will hold two public hearings April 11 on the rate increases: the first at 9:40am at district headquarters, 5700 Almaden Expressway, San Jose; the second at 7pm on the same day at the Morgan Hill Community Center, 1700 Monterey Road.
