Water district puts off rate increases

Posted: Tuesday, August 7, 2012 9:55 am
http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/news/article_9c1e47e4-e0af-11e1-9306-001a4bcf887a.html

Calaveras County Water District board members  revisit county water bills this
week, meeting Wednesday to discuss delays in  planned water and sewer rate
increases.

Last month’s meeting saw water district directors  in a hopeful mood about
completing public outreach and rate studies that could  have set those increases
in motion by this fall.

CCWD interim General Manager Lynn Gentry said  those studies are now more likely to be completed by next spring, moving back a  timetable that would have proven “prohibitively costly” to the district and  burdensome to ratepayers.

“We were kind of on the fast track last month,”  Gentry explained. “Then, after
the presentation, we thought, ‘You know what? We  better wait until next spring
and look at five other (study)  providers.’”

According to Gentry, CCWD looked into offering a  rate study contract to a
contractor in Temecula, but opted instead to hear bids  from five other firms
that had “done more work in the foothill  area.”

The district also plans to put out its own  feelers on the planned rate
increase, which represents the final phase in a  half-decade of staggered rate
jumps meant to offset downturns in district  hookups and rate revenue.

Gentry said CCWD’s last rate increase came “about  10 years too late,” leaving
the district wrong-footed as the economy declined  and projected hookups fell to
half pre-recession levels.

“If it were a perfect world we could look at a 10  percent a year (increase) for
the next five years,” she said. “That’s not going  to happen, and that’s why we
want to do a really careful job with the rate  study. We’re very sensitive to
economic conditions and we don’t want to  overburden ratepayers.”

Further down the agenda, CCWD officials will pick  up negotiations to fold the
Wallace Community Services District and Blue Lake  Springs Mutual Water Company into district operations.

Directors are also expected to sign off on more  than $1 million in ongoing
infrastructure improvements, including costs  associated with upgrades at the
district’s Vallecito wastewater treatment  plant.
This week’s meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m.  Wednesday at CCWD headquarters at
423 E. St. Charles Street. CCWD board members  will next meet for a regularly
scheduled meeting Wednesday, Aug.  22.
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