Santa Rosa City Council approves 5-year plan for water rate increases

Santa Rosa’s water rates will rise steadily for the next five years under a new rate structure approved Tuesday to replace the current two-year cycle, a move that officials said would provide long-term stability to the water system and cost visibility for residents and businesses.

The annual increases, between 2.5 and 3 percent, add up to a total bump of just over 14 percent, but city officials stressed that the increases would be revisited each year and would only be implemented if justified.

“If I think that a rate increase is not warranted, I will vote to reduce it or eliminate it entirely,” said Megan Kaun, vice chair of the Board of Public Utilities, which previously approved the increases unanimously after a yearlong process and urged council members to follow suit.

Council members were not eager to approve the increases because they know they will be unwelcome by the city’s 48,000 ratepayers, who have seen their rates surge every year for more than a decade.

Vice Mayor Tom Schwedhelm said “no one’s doing cartwheels” over the new rates, but he said he believes they will help maintain what is “an exceptionally well-run system.”

The increases mean the average household will see its water and sewer bill increase from $125.26 in January to about $143.88 by 2020.

The lone dissenting vote was cast by Councilman Gary Wysocky, who spent considerable time questioning the assumptions and methodologies used by city staff members. Wysocky ultimately said he wanted to maintain robust annual oversight of the system.

“I think you should have to come back to us and ask for it every year,” Wysocky said. “If this warrants it next year, I’ll say yes. If it’s not, I’ll say no. But for five years, I can’t go there.”

The comments capped a detailed meeting that outlined a number of major changes to the way the city charges its residents for water and wastewater services.

One of the key changes was the elimination of higher rates for heavy water users following a challenge to the legality of such usage tiers. Though tiers are seen as an important conservation tool, a court ruling earlier this year found the tiered water rates in San Juan Capistrano were not justified.

The ruling has caused cities around the state to rethink their rate structures. Instead of four residential rates, the city is now proposing two. And instead of three irrigation tiers, there will now be two.

Resident Jerry Niimi said changing the tiers eliminates the conservation incentive. He also said the city shouldn’t continue to raise its rates just because its residents are disengaged and “complacent.”

One resident who wasn’t complacent was Eckhard Konkel. The 67-year-old said he had calculated that the city water department’s revenue had increased 59 percent during a decade when people’s incomes had risen 3 percent.

“I think a five-year plan is excessive, and I think the rate increases are excessive,” said Konkel, who noted that he’s been a ratepayer in the city for 33 years.

Dave Guhin, director of the water department, stressed that the increases are simply the maximum that can be charged over the next five years, not what will necessarily be implemented. He said conservation remains the best way for users to decrease their water bills, even with the elimination of the two more expensive tiers for the largest water users.

He noted that because of conservation, the average ratepayer in Santa Rosa had dropped their use from 8,500 gallons a month to 7,000 gallons a month, lowering the average bill from $148 per month to $125.

Aware that some ratepayers cannot afford the increases, Guhin said that the city was in the process of implementing a system to help low-income residents pay their bills. The water department plans to set aside $225,000 in revenue from cellphone tower leases next year to fund the program, and hopes to grow it over time with donations.