Brea : Equalizing of Water, Sewer Rates Discussed

Businesses in the city may see sharp increases in their water and sewer rates if city officials adopt a proposal discussed Tuesday, while some homeowners will see their rates drop in the effort to equalize the city’s water rates. Businesses also would be asked to pay sewer fees, which until now only single-family home dwellers have paid.

Meanwhile, beginning Sunday, about 1,700 businesses in Brea will have to pay for Fire Department services they now receive free. The services are department inspections, hazardous-use monitoring permits, answering false fire alarms and flood service.

Norm Wasserman, chief executive officer of the Brea Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday that the city’s businesses are in for a surprise.

“Our people are kind of upset because we weren’t notified earlier that (the increases were) coming,” Wasserman said. “The general business community of Brea is not aware of it.” But after meeting with city officials Tuesday, Wasserman said he understands the “why” of the increases and the city’s push to run Brea “on a more business-like basis.”

The water-rate plan proposed by consultant Douglas Ayres calls for businesses to pay a larger portion of the city utility costs in proportion to what their companies use, city spokeswoman Bonnie Dwyer said.

Now, a homeowner who pays $6.50 per month plus 72 cents per hundred cubic feet of water would pay $1.23 per month, a savings of $5.27 per month, Dwyer said. On the other hand, a large business customer who uses 2,645 cubic feet of water would see an increase of $723 per month--from $1,909 to $2,632, Dwyer said.

Calling the old system “discriminatory against small users,” Ayres, president of Management Services Institute, said the new system encourages conservation.