Water, sewer rate protest revised downward in Cambria

The amount of protest votes submitted in a failed attempt to halt an increase in Cambria’s sewer and water rates has been revised downward to 971, the services district said in a news release.

The updated total “excludes duplicate, invalid and questionable protests among the 1,223 protests” received by the Feb. 12 deadline, the news release said, representing 24.7 percent of the Cambria Community Services District customer base.

The protest would have required 50 percent plus one vote to overturn the CCSD board’s approval of the higher, which took effect March 1. The new rates will vary based on consumption level, the district says. A residential customer using roughly 75 gallons a day will see an increase of about 24 percent, the district said.

Most of the protests excluded from the updated count — 184 in all — were duplicates from the same parcel. Seventeen others were invalid because they weren’t signed or didn’t include a valid address. Questionable protests, whose validity could not be determined, numbered 51.

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Water, sewer rate protest revised downward in Cambria."