City Council Hikes Water, Sewer Rates for All Fountain Valley Residents, Businesses

In a 3-1 vote, the Fountain Valley City Council this week adopted an increase in water and sewer rates and a new two-tiered pricing structure for households using more water.

The new price structure raises rates for all residents and businesses. A single-family residence will now pay $5.51 (from $3.00) meter charge, $5.50 (from $4.80) in sewer rates, and a $2.47 (from $2.42) consumption charge per unit of water.  The second-tier pricing applies when a residence goes over 30 units of water. Every unit over the 30 costs $3.27 (a $0.80 increase).

The City Council notified residents about the proposed rate increases Aug. 16,  giving them the opportunity to write a protest letter against the increase under Proposition 218.  Proposition 218 requires local governments to call a vote before levying new or increasing taxes on property. Under Prop 218, a majority is needed to automatically defeat a proposed increase. In this case 8,501 written petitions were necessary to stop the increases.

"As of this writing," said Mark Lewis, Public Works director, during his presentation to the council, we have received only 19 written protests."

After his presentation, it was revealed that an additional 11 written protests were given to the council in the course of the meeting, 8,471 short of the necessary 8,501.

In addition to written complaints, a few verbal protests were waged against the council.  "You did the same thing in November of 2009,” said Edward Ludford, a council meeting regular. "This is just another tax.”

"We need to increase our rates," said Councilman Mark McCurdy during the vote to accept the rate increase. "But I do not support a tiered system."

The new charges begin Nov. 1.