San Luis Obispo Tribune Logo

Cambria services board considers water-rate increases | San Luis Obispo Tribune

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Contact Us
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Submit an Event
    • Buy Photos
    • News in Education
    • FAQ
    • Activate Digital Subscription
    • Manage Account
    • Newsletters

    • News
    • Local
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Investigations
    • California
    • California Weed
    • Nation & World
    • Lottery
    • Weather
    • Weird News
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Columns
    • Photos from the Vault
    • Weather Watch
    • Joetopia
    • That's SLO Weird
    • Sports
    • Outdoors
    • High School
    • Cal Poly
    • MLB
    • MLB Scores & Stats
    • NBA
    • NBA Scores & Stats
    • NFL
    • NFL Scores & Stats
    • Politics
    • The California Influencer Series
  • Business
    • Living
    • Food & Drink
    • Wine & Beer
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel
    • Columns
    • Linda Lewis Griffith
    • Pet Tales
    • Entertainment
    • Arts & Culture
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Horoscopes
    • Restaurants
    • Events Calendar
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Viewpoints
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Submit a Letter
    • Columnists
    • Tom Fulks
    • Andrea Seastrand
  • Obituaries
  • The Cambrian

  • Contests
  • Today's Circulars
  • Classifieds
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
    • Homes
    • Real Estate Weekly
  • Place An Ad

  • About Us
  • Work For Us
  • Mobile & Apps

The Cambrian

Cambria services board considers water-rate increases

By Kathe Tanner

ktanner@thetribunenews.com

    ORDER REPRINT →

November 11, 2015 09:00 AM

Decisions, decisions.

Directors of Cambria’s services district could decide Thursday, Nov. 12, whether to approve a consultant’s plan to raise rates for water and sewage-treatment services, along with the timing for implementing the plan.

They’re also to consider adopting a key groundwater management plan. The meeting starts at 12:30 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Building, 1000 Main St.

As currently projected, those rates would kick in Jan. 1. For that process to meet state guidelines for allowing the public sufficient time to protest the rate hikes, Cambria Community Services Directors would have to OK the plan today and authorize staff to mail out formal notices Friday, Nov. 13.

SIGN UP

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Tribune

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Once ratepayers have those notices of proposed increases in hand, they’ll have 45 days to make the next crucial decision: whether to protest the proposed rate hikes or allow them to take effect after a public hearing at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 29.

The protests can be filed in person at the December hearing, or in letters that absolutely must follow a proscribed pattern described on the hearing notice.

At least 50 percent of the district’s ratepayers would have to file formal protest letters in order to stop the rate increases.

Details of the proposal and the agenda for the meeting are at www.cambriacsd.org.

The notices

The front of each notice from the district would include a property’s assessor’s parcel number (APN), ratepayer’s name and address. The front also would state “Notice of Public Hearing on Proposed Increases to Water & Sewer Rates.”

The notices would explain why the district believes increases are needed, what the proposed rates for water and sewage-treatment services would be, and how those increases would impact a typical home in which residents use 6 units of water every two-month billing period (about 75 gallons per day).

“Approximately two-thirds of residential customer bills are at or below this level of use; customers with lower water use would face smaller impacts,” according to the notice.

However, as explained at a workshop meeting for the ad hoc rate increase committee Nov. 3, the district has for years included the first 6 units of water in a base rate of $23.82. Under the new scenario, the base rate of $25.50 would be just that, and the first 4 units of water would cost $6.50 each.

The fifth through 16th units would cost $8.50 each.

Those two tiers cover most of the district’s residential bills, according to consultant Alex Handlers and Patrick O’Reilly, the district’s finance manager.

Additional increases of up to 4 percent could be levied annually, if approved by the board.

Why increase rates?

CCSD says it needs more revenue because its water and wastewater departments aren’t self-supporting, as they are supposed to be, and maintaining service levels contributes to the drain on the district’s general fund.

The district’s cash-flow crunch has been exacerbated by lower income from water sales — a result of conservation practices mandated by the district, county and state — and by a delay in receiving a $4.3 million state drought grant for the district’s emergency water-supply project that filters brackish water and reinjects it into the San Simeon Creek aquifer.

69 words: The district built the plant last year under an emergency permit from the county because officials felt the community could have been at risk to run out of water, and because the permit carried with it a deadline for the project to be built. The district has applied for a permanent permit for the project, and a consultant is preparing a lengthy report to list and address environmental concerns.

Early reactions

The Cambrian conducted an informal, unscientific Facebook survey between Nov. 5 to 9, asking for early opinions on the rate-increase proposal.

Some, like Kathy Unger, believe the increases are inevitable.

There are a lot of retired people in this town on fixed incomes. We can’t afford any more rate hikes. Pretty soon, only the very rich will be able to live here.

Darlene Wadsworth

The district “needs a certain amount of revenue in order to maintain an adequate supply of water for the community,” Unger wrote. “The drought and resulting shortage of water doesn’t lower their annual cost of doing business. They still have to pay their bills. So where else is this revenue supposed to come from? It has to come from the consumers. Life just isn’t fair … it is simple economics, supply and demand. Only in this case, the CCSD isn’t trying to get rich. It is trying to maintain its required level of service.”

Later, she noted that “we could also discuss government waste, high salaries, benefits and perks. But those are probably a mere fraction of the funds that are needed to provide service, and we do need qualified people to run things. But it wouldn’t hurt to trim the waste.”

Sue Atkinson Robinson wrote that she’s shocked that this proposal surprises people.

“Did they actually think the rates would go down now that CCSD is bringing in less money?”

On the other side of the philosophical fence, Darlene Wadsworth called the proposal “outrageousness. We conserve and then (are) punished by rate increases. There are a lot of retired people in this town on fixed incomes. We can’t afford any more rate hikes. Pretty soon, only the very rich will be able to live here.”

Did they actually think the rates would go down now that CCSD is bringing in less money?

Sue Atkinson Robinson

Jill Hillary wrote that “we have cut our water use in half ever since requested. It’s like being between a rock and a hard place … to flush or not to flush!”

Rate increases elsewhere

Cambrians are in good company in the water-rate-increase scenario. Water-service rate hikes are cropping up in other communities across the drought-stricken state, including some in this county.

Santa Margarita residents stopped a proposed rate hike of nearly 35 percent in September. The county Department of Public Works recently launched another, similar plan to see whether the proposal will fly this time.

Likewise, Paso Roblans could be facing the return of a monthly fixed charge plus higher per-unit costs. A unit is 748 gallons.

  Comments  

Videos

Check out the stormy weather and high surf in Cayucos

Watch baby elephant seals at Piedras Blancas

View More Video

Trending Stories

‘There is a wall of gum. Just FYI’: Dwight from ‘The Office’ stops by Bubblegum Alley

February 18, 2019 11:13 AM

Wet weather returns (again) this week, along with ... sun?

February 18, 2019 02:15 PM

SLO County weather forecast for the week of Feb. 18: Expect rain and low freezing levels

February 17, 2019 10:38 AM

This California mansion and buffalo farm owned by $180 million lottery winner is now for sale

February 18, 2019 01:02 PM

See flooding in streets in Big Bear from rain

February 17, 2019 09:27 AM

Read Next

This Cambria resident launched Tom Petty’s rock career. His new book tells the story

Books

This Cambria resident launched Tom Petty’s rock career. His new book tells the story

By Kathe Tanner

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 12, 2019 02:54 PM

Longtime music promoter Jon Scott, who lives part-time in Cambria, California, wrote about his relationship with legendary rocker Tom Petty and how he helped launch his career in new book “Tom Petty and Me.”

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Tribune

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE THE CAMBRIAN

North Coast braces for another round of windy, wet weather

The Cambrian

North Coast braces for another round of windy, wet weather

February 12, 2019 04:02 PM
Concerned about Alzheimer’s or dementia? Attend this seminar in Cambria

Cambrian: Opinion

Concerned about Alzheimer’s or dementia? Attend this seminar in Cambria

February 12, 2019 01:36 PM
In Cambria’s backcountry, dealing with bears has become a year-round challenge

Cambrian: Opinion

In Cambria’s backcountry, dealing with bears has become a year-round challenge

February 12, 2019 01:18 PM
Aspiring Cambrian artist captures mental imagery

Cambrian: Arts & Events

Aspiring Cambrian artist captures mental imagery

February 12, 2019 01:01 PM
Happy Valentine’s Day: The celebration of life’s greatest crapshoot

Cambrian: Slice of Life

Happy Valentine’s Day: The celebration of life’s greatest crapshoot

February 12, 2019 11:34 AM
Season for Coast Union High girls hoops comes to an end in ‘poorest officiated game’

Cambrian: Sports

Season for Coast Union High girls hoops comes to an end in ‘poorest officiated game’

February 12, 2019 10:58 AM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

San Luis Obispo Tribune App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Place a Classified Ad
  • Advertise with Us
  • Local Deals
  • Public Notices
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story