Fountain Valley : Water Rates, City Budget Topics of Public Hearings

Water rates will be increased 5% if City Council members tonight adopt a proposed ordinance.

A public hearing on the proposed rate increase and on raising the water connection fee, from $40 to $150, will follow a public hearing on the $15-million city budget for 1985-86, City Clerk Evelyn McClendon said.

While the budget calls for no new programs or expansions, the Police Department is asking for an addition of $200,000 to their $4.76-million budget, Chief Marvin Fortin said.

The police want to reinstitute motorcycle traffic law enforcement, Fortin said, because there has been a 27% increase in the number of auto accidents--from 808 in 1983 to 1,141 in 1984. The program was dropped last year after two officers were seriously injured in motorcycle accidents.

Police also are requesting one more officer, one crime-prevention specialist, a full-time photo lab technician and three full-time non-sworn personnel to do much of the paper work officers now have to handle, Fortin said.

Public safety, including police services, is the city’s largest single budget category at $7.4 million, Assistant Comptroller Diana Hinz said.

Council members tonight will decide whether to raise the water rates, which haven’t been increased since 1963, said Don Heinbuch, city public works director assistant.

The 5% hike would mean the average household’s water bill would increase from $14.50 to $15.30 a month, Heinbuch said.