Paso Robles residents launch petition to protest water rate hikes

Paso Robles residents saw more drinking water come their way this year, but another annual rate hike has some pushing back against paying more for that water.

City Council members in April approved a five-year tiered water rate increase, which will take effect in January and raise rates every year until 2021. Rates that are now $4.40 per unit will climb to $4.83 in 2017 and, by 2021, customers will pay $6.56 per unit. A unit is equal to 748 gallons of water.

The five-year program, which city officials say is needed to pay for water system capital improvements, comes on the heels of a previous series of annual increases — water rates that went from $1.32 per unit in 2011 to $4.40 per unit in 2015.

Dick McKinley, director of Public Works, said city water officials have an “obligation to the ratepayers” to take care of pipes, storage tanks and other infrastructure, which he said justifies the rate hikes.

But resident John Borst considers the rate increases unfair and has launched a petition drive to stop them. Borst contends the city should only charge customers for their water use. The cost of capital improvements should be a separate issue decided by voters, he said.

“The point of the petition is to get the voice of the people heard,” he said.

Borst is a familiar figure in the debate over water.

His group, Concerned Citizens, sued the city over water rate hikes in 2009, saying the hikes constituted a special tax that must be approved by two-thirds of voters. Concerned Citizens also said water users should be reimbursed $8 million for rate increases in 2002 and 2004.

A judge in 2010 ruled that the water charges are fees, not taxes, and don’t require a public vote. The judge, however, said the city should give residents more information about the need for an increase. Another judge in 2012 ruled the city wasn’t required to repay the $8 million.

Concerned Citizens also circulated a petition in 2009 that compelled the City Council to hold a special election on water rate increases — and voters rejected those increases.

The council did raise rates in 2011, with officials saying they were necessary to pay Paso Robles’ share of the Nacimiento Water Project — a $176 million series of pipelines that in 2011 began delivering water from Lake Nacimiento to communities in San Luis Obispo County.

Paso Robles receives the largest allotment of water from the project — it initially received 4,000 acre-feet of water, nearly 620 acre-feet more than San Luis Obispo, which gets the second-highest allotment. This year, Paso Robles and others involved in the project were approved to receive more water. Now, 6,488 acre-feet of lake water flows through Paso Robles’ pipelines.

“This secures us to be able to survive and thrive into the future,” McKinley said. “But that’s not free.”

Now, Borst and some other residents behind the 2010 lawsuit have launched an initiative petition calling for “new, more equitable water rates” starting at $1.92 per unit, and going up annually to $2.61 in 2021. The petition also calls for voter approval for any capital improvements.

“We feel we should be able to vote on the capital improvements,” Borst said.

Residents got the chance to protest the April decision — if the majority of water customers submitted written protest forms to the city, council members would not have been able to authorize the rate increase. According to the petition, customers should have been able to file protest letters electronically, as well as by submitting physical forms.

If at least 10 percent of registered Paso Robles voters — about 1,520 people — sign the petition by mid-December, the City Council would be required to either approve the petition’s rates or put the issue in front of voters during the next general election in November 2018. The council also has the option of setting an earlier special election.

Borst said he and others are going door to door collecting signatures. Petitions are also available to sign from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at PCM Real Estate, 503 Spring St., and Jim Reed Cad Service, 610 10th St.

If the water increases stand, Paso Robles will likely have a water rate that’s lower than that of San Luis Obispo, but higher than that of Atascadero, both of which also receive water through the Nacimiento Water Project.

San Luis Obispo’s lower-volume water customers — those who use 1 to 8 units of water per month — pay $6.92 per unit. Atascadero charges lower-volume customers using a different rate than Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo — users pay $2.10 per 1,000 gallons. Using a converted rate, Atascadero residents pay around $1.57 per unit. San Luis Obispo and Atascadero also add a monthly base charge to water bills.

Christopher Alakel, Paso Robles Water Services manager, said Paso Robles’ rates also need to rise because revenue has dropped as customers conserve water during the drought, but the cost to administer water services hasn’t.

This story was originally published September 3, 2016 at 7:47 PM with the headline "Paso Robles residents launch petition to protest water rate hikes."