Thumbnail photo by James Brooks
Two weeks after Crescent City councilors took the first step toward increasing water and sewer rates, City Manager Eric Wier attempted to quell concerns about the Proposition 218 protest process.
Wier also addressed the idea of moving the wastewater treatment plant from its current location at B and Battery streets to the area behind Safeway, which was once the McNamara & Peepe lumber mill site. The city manager said that was before he began working with the city, however a cost analysis determined that it would not be feasible.
“When you talk about relocating the treatment plant, it’s not just about picking up the treatment plant and moving it,” he said. “It’s all of the infrastructure that goes into the treatment plant that still goes into the location it’s at now.”
Four members of the Crescent City Council on April 6 approved ordinances setting new water and sewer rate structures and resolutions that give accountholders the ability to protest the proposed increases.
On Monday, activists Linda Sutter and Donna Westfall questioned the protest process, stating that residents were reporting receiving four or five notices that their rates are set to increase.
Westfall mentioned Measure Q, a referendum that appeared on the November 2016 ballot after the Proposition 218 protest process failed to quash a consumption-based rate change the Council approved in 2014. According to Ballotpedia, a yes vote on the local measure would have allowed the rate increases to proceed.
Voters rejected the measure by 57.03% of the vote, according to Ballotpedia.
On Monday, Westfall said she was concerned that the city’s customer list for water and sewer accountholders was inaccurate.
“I heard from three people that they received their letters today,” she said. “One friend got four letters — he owns one property. Another friend got six letters, he owns two properties. A third only paid for water and got two letters and a lot of other people still have not received a letter.”
Another resident, Roy Thompson, said he’s lived through water and sewer rates every two to five years in the roughly 61 years he’s been living in Del Norte County. He said he remembers when he paid $20 a month for water.
Now, Thompson said he pays $98 a month for city water.
“I’d like to know who takes care of all your money, where it goes and how many people in the city, on the Council, the city manager, that’s on city water or city sewer,” he said. “You vote this stuff in for us, what do you guys pay?”
The Council’s vote earlier this month set public hearings for June 1 for the water and sewer rate increases. Accountholders can submit a written protest letter either through the mail or at City Hall by 4 p.m. June 1. They can also turn them in the day of the hearing. The rate increase is not allowed to proceed if the city receives valid protests from 50% plus 1 of the total number of eligible properties with water and sewer accounts.
If the protest fails, monthly water rates for the “typical residential customer” are expected to increase from $22.49 per month to $46.18 in 2027; to $48.41 in 2028; $50.86 in 2029; $53.55 in 2030; and $56.50 in 2031, according to a March 16 presentation from the Rural Community Assistance Corporation, or RCAC.
Pelican Bay State Prison, which is on the city’s water system, would see their rates change $3.11 per 1,000 gallons used to $6.48 per 1,000 gallons in 2027. Their rates would max out at $8.39 per 1,000 gallons used in 2031, according to RCAC’s recommendations.
The city hired Rural Community Assistance Corporation to conduct a rate study. The organization found that the city’s current structure wasn’t enough to cover the system’s expenses. Field Manager Samantha Ryan told councilors in March that though grant funds will be coming for capital improvement projects, the city will be short $8.5 million in its water fund if rates don’t increase.
On the sewer side of things, after conducting a rate study, Willdan Financial Services recommended rate increases by about $25 starting the next year for a resident living within city limits. If rate increases are finalized, their bills will go from $72.21 to $98.06 in 2027. They would then increase by $12.26 in 2028; $7.17 in 2029; $6.46 in 2030; and $6.20 in 2031, according to Willdan Financial Services Vice President Chris Fisher.
Outside city limits, sewer customers are billed for wastewater treatment only, according to Fisher. Their bills may increase by $16.46, going from $63.14 to $79.60 in 2027. Their bills would then increase again by $9.95 in 2028; $5.82 in 2029; $5.25 in 2030; and $5.03 in 2031.
On Monday, Wier said that since Crescent City is looking to adjust water and sewer rates Proposition 218 notices are being sent to customers for each proposed rate increase. In other words, customers will receive one notice for water rates and another notice for sewer rates. Notices are also sent to property owners, Wier said.
For customers living outside city limits, Wier said there may be a difference in the account name within the city and the account name within the county.
“You might have John Doe at the city and you might have John L. Doe at the county and that’s going to be two different people,” he said.
Instead of trying to eliminate the discrepancies, Wier said the city will send more than one notice to that customer.
“That same person in that case would receive four notices,” he said. “They’re going to receive two — one to John Doe and one to John L. Doe for the water, and two on the sewer side.”
Though a customer may receive more than one notice, only one protest will be counted for each proposed rate adjustment, Wier said. He also noted that protests are counted based on the parcel itself.
“Say you have three renters, they would each receive these notices so they could each submit a protest,” Wier said. “The owner of that parcel will also receive a notice and the owner could also submit a protest. Although all four of them could submit a protest, it only counts for one protest.”
During the discussion, which wasn’t on the agenda, Crescent City Mayor Isaiah Wright spoke to an allegation that some of his colleagues don’t live within the city limits and won’t be subject to the same rate changes.
“We pay the same rates as you do,” he said.
