GILROY
– Water rates are going to increase significantly.
GILROY – Water rates are going to increase significantly.
Although the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors technically has the power to reject a spending plan that would require a 25 percent water rate hike, Supervisor Don Gage said he couldn’t imagine doing so.
Reviewing the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s annual budget is a mere formality, Gage said.
“Why would we want to get into their business when they are elected by the public?” the South County supervisor and Gilroy resident said of the Water District board, which approved the rate hike on May 25.
“I don’t even know what would happen if we disapproved their budget,” Gage added. “There would be some ripple effect. … We would be basically managing their budget for them.
“I’ve got enough trouble managing my own budget.”
Supervisors this week are putting the finishing touches on the county’s 2004-05 budget, which requires massive cutbacks. The SCVWD board already has approved the increase in water rates.
The water rate hike will raise the water cost for an average residential customer by about $16 a year. For farmers, however, it could mean a jump of thousands of dollars.
“We very rarely get anybody protesting” water rate hikes, Gage said.
Nevertheless, he added, “I agree with the farmers. The one thing that will kill them is if they can’t afford to irrigate their crops … (but) disapproving (the Water District’s) budget is not going to solve that problem.”
Instead, he said, it would result in an unproductive battle between two public agencies.
Gage said the Water District is “like a utility company” in that its budget increases stem from the rising cost of operations.
“That’s just how it is,” he said.
