South County residents are facing another increase in water
rates if Santa Clara Valley Water District board members approve
the increase during a special meeting June 9. Staff is recommending
raising rates 7.8 percent, from $255 to $275 an acre-foot.
South County residents are facing another increase in water rates if Santa Clara Valley Water District board members approve the increase during a special meeting June 9. Staff is recommending raising rates 7.8 percent, from $255 to $275 an acre-foot.
The agency says the increase is needed to keep pace with higher costs.
Yearly water rates for the average five-person home have nearly doubled in the last seven years, from $130 in 2001 to $255 this year. The yearly increases have ranged from 8 to 11 percent annually. By 2017, South County residents can expect to be paying roughly $500 a year for water.
Darin Taylor, a senior project manager with the SCVWD, said these charges are associated with the costs of pumping water from the ground, and they pay for the management of groundwater basins.
An acre-foot of water equals an area roughly the size of a football field filled to a depth of one foot. It is enough water to supply two families of five for about a year.
In South County, the groundwater extraction charge increases were necessary because of higher payments for purchased water from the federal government, expansion of services in the areas of recycled water and water conservation, according to information from the district. Other contributing factors include groundwater quality management and maintenance work on facilities and pipelines.
The cities of Gilroy and Morgan Hill, who operate municipal wells, may pass the proposed increase on to local customers.
Gilroy Co-Finance Director Christina Turner said in April that water district rate increases don’t always translate into rate increases to consumers. But for the past six years, the increase has been passed along to consumers – although not at a rate as high as the water district passes down. The city has been able to absorb some of the rising charges by saving money other ways, like saving electricity by pumping water at off-peak hours, she said, noting that in 2007, the water district increased rates by 7 percent, but the city only increased its rates by 4.5 percent.
Longtime water district critic Terry Mahurin said he has told the board of directors he believes the district could be better managed.
“How is it that 10 or 12 years ago, the district was able to run with 430 employees, how is that possible, when now, we have basically 800 plus or minus a few,” he said. “They kept adding staff, kept increasing rates for salaries for people … they are all nice people, but the board is unwilling and unable to control that bureaucracy. As a result of that, with water usage generally flat or going down and income of course goes down with it, the rates have to be increased to support those salaries.”
Board members Rosemary Kamei and Sig Sanchez and district spokeswoman Susan Siravo did not return calls for comment by press time.
On May 20, the board approved salary increases for Debra Cauble, a lawyer with the district, and Lauren Keller, clerk of the board, making them the highest paid in those positions in the state. Cauble’s increase brings her annual salary to $221,720, and Keller’s increase raises her salary to $135,574 per year.
District officials say there have been concerted efforts to reduce costs. District staff has been instructed to reduce permanent positions, reduce discretionary reserves and postpone capital and operation projects.
The district’s board has recently come under fire for other issues as well.
Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, D-Los Altos, recently pulled a bill aimed at changing the way districts elect board members.
The seven-member board is set to ebb to five members in two years, thanks to a law signed by the governor in 2006, but board members had convinced Ruskin to sponsor a bill that would maintain the seven-member status, with newly-drawn districts in 2012.
“You have to look at what they did just two years ago when they said to the state we are divorcing ourselves from the county and as a result we don’t need these two appointed positions, we’ll settle for five representatives,” Mahurin said. “Now two years later, which, in government time is the blink of an eye, they are saying we changed our mind, now we want seven again. These people are confused and lost, in my humble opinion, in deciding how to run this district.”
Board of Directors special meeting
1:30 p.m., Monday, June 9
Santa Clara Valley Water District
5700 Almaden Expressway
San Jose, CA 95118
