NCT.com: Encinitas preparing to increase water rates
At tonight's Encinitas city council meeting there will be decisions made to increase housing density (more people) and increase water rates (more people=more water use).
Longtime council member Jim Bond (the old crusty Bond, not the new buffed out edgy blue eyed Bond) says, "Most of these cost increases are coming from the increasingly diminished supply of water for all of us,"
Sounds like the perfect time to dramatically increase the population within city limits!
From the article: The district is continuing to recover from state takeaways of local property taxes during fiscal 2004-05 and 2005-06 -- another reason cited for the rate increases, said Jay Lembach, city finance manager.
The district also faces a one-time payment of $3.4 million to the city for a new headquarters on Calle Magdalena, Lembach said. The water district and the public works department will share the former automobile dealership.
In 2005, when the three-year rate study was prepared, the district had budgeted $2.5 million toward the cost of a new facility. That amount was factored into the rate analysis. Lembach said.
He said the district's upcoming move from leased space at the old Pacific View School to the recently-purchased, $9.5 million dealership is not driving the rate increase.
In 2004, the water district sold its D Street headquarters to the city for $1,040,000 for a city library. At the time, the district earned $60,000 a year from renting portions of the D Street site to the public works department.
All this raises questions, city watchdog Bob Bonde said Tuesday.
"What kind of oversight do we have when we have the City Council being the buyer and the seller at the same time, and the ratepayers of San Dieguito Water District being the cash cows for the city?" Bonde said.
Also from the article, what you will pay: Most of the district's 11,500 accounts are served by 5/8- to 3/4-inch meters, for which the bimonthly charge would increase from $23.71 to $25.84. That's a 9 percent increase.
The additional $2.13 every two months amounts to a $12.78 yearly increase for most residential customers in the district, which covers coastal Encinitas east to El Camino Real.
Customers with larger meters face corresponding 9 percent increases.
For water itself, residential users can expect increases ranging from 8.2 percent to 9 percent. Under a three-tiered system, residential customers pay more per gallon once their water usage exceeds 700 or 2,100 cubic feet.
The San Dieguito water board meets at 6 p.m. at 505 S. Vulcan Ave.
There is plenty of water for those of you who can afford it !
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the shell game at the circuis. We never know where OUR money is because they play this game.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to arms length transactions?
Jim Bond got on the board. He didn't do a good job of watching out for the water quality of Lake Hodges. It may take 80 million dollars to clean up the lake. Jim "boondoogle" Bond strikes again.
ReplyDeleteNo, the enviromentalists would not allow the water district to clean up the lake before it filled up. This is an example of unintended consequences, sort of the like the Surfriders saying "no seawall" at Beacons, which may result in "no access".
ReplyDeleteBoondoggle Bond cannot get off that easily. We don't want a seawall; and there are viable alternatives.
ReplyDeleteThe environmental consequences of the clean up now apparently required at Lake Hodges are a different topic, not related.
This is a case of the people who point out the problems being blamed for the problems themselves.
Do not confuse the message with the messenger. Most people are glad we have "environmentalists" who care about our quality of life, and that of future generations.
The cities, boards and agencies create problems then try to make the Coastal Commission or the "environmentalists," into a scape goat for the City or Metropolitan Water District's? lack of foresight and accountability.
"Enviromentalists would not allow the water district to clean up the lake before it filled up."
ReplyDeleteWhat does that mean?
Anonymous? Indeed.
why can't the in charge people prepare a simple flyer with easy stats,pie charts.graphs, etc so that the rate payers an understand why these water increases are justified.
ReplyDeleteIt was discouraging to see how decieving the cost increase notice from SDWD was. I think the light went on for Jim Bond at least. He seemed to agree and promised not to be so careless in the future.
ReplyDeleteBut, Jim Bond didn't prepare the slick mailer we all received in the mail. Probably SDWD contracted with some utility management group that does this every day. Someone approved that flier, I'd love to know.