Increase in Sewer Fees Faces New Protest

A group of La Crescenta homeowners, irate and confused over increased sewer fees, will stage still another protest next week even though the target of their anger, the Crescenta Valley County Water District, will not be represented at the meeting.

The water district in September raised bimonthly sewer fees from $16.80 to $40--a 138% increase. District officials said an elected board of directors deliberated for months before approving the increase to pay the community’s $8-million share of improvements to the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant in Los Angeles, mandated by federal and state directives.

Water district officials in November agreed to meet with homeowners this month to explain the reasons for rate increases levied last September and to discuss alternative methods of assessing the fees.

But district officials said this week that they are not yet prepared to meet with homeowners because they are waiting for consultants to draft alternative proposals for paying off the district’s debt.

Homeowners complain that the water district is stalling. Marjorie Falloure, the 64-year-old resident who single-handedly launched the protest in October, said she is going ahead with the meeting anyway, without the water district’s participation. The meeting is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. next Thursday in the cafeteria at Crescenta Valley High School, 4400 Ramsdell Ave.

Falloure said that although she is frustrated by the water board’s delay, she is undaunted. “They thought they could shoo us off and we’d give up and that would be the end of it,” she said. “But we are not discouraged.”

Protesters instead are threatening to form a homeowners’ association to press their demands for a new rate structure.

That action could jeopardize the autonomy of the Crescenta Valley Town Council, a quasi-governmental committee formed last spring to advise the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

“We’ve been warned by other communities that formation of two groups in our community would not be a good thing,” said Crescenta Valley Councilman Don Hogue, who has been working closely with residents and the water district to resolve the sewer fee issue.

Few residents were aware of the rate increase until bills were mailed in late October. Since then, there has been a outpouring of protest in the isolated community, where all users are assessed the same fee, regardless of the size of the household or the amount of water used.

Robert K. Argenio, water district general manager, said the five-member board had decided that the flat rate is the most equitable of various methods.

Falloure and a handful of followers--mostly longtime residents who live on fixed incomes--have urged the district to consider other alternatives, such as charges based on usage, bond financing or state grants.

Residents have twice voiced their complaints before the Town Council, which adopted a resolution in December asking the water board to reconsider its action. Petitions gathered by Falloure’s group and signed by more than 1,200 persons were submitted with the council resolution.

The water board does not plan to respond to the town council’s questions until directors have had a chance “to review and clearly understand” the alternatives, Argenio said. “At that time, we will meet with the Town Council,” he said, because the council, and not the residents’ protest group, is the official voice of the community.

District directors in November agreed informally to meet sometime in January with homeowners and the Town Council, but no date had been set. Rae Berry, water board president, said directors had not been formally notified of the Jan. 25 meeting date. “The board has not received a written request to meet with anyone.”

Berry said she learned about the meeting from a flyer tucked under the windshield wiper of her car while parked at a shopping center. “I didn’t hardly consider that an official invitation,” she said.

Town Council members said they will participate at the public meeting in an attempt to answer some of the questions from the community.

“A large part of the community is not totally aware of what is taking place,” said Hogue. “They are running without all of the facts. We have to find ways to temper the feelings.”

BACKGROUND Los Angeles city officials notified the Crescenta Valley County Water District last May that the tiny district would have to pay at least $8 million as its share of more than $3.4 billion in improvements to the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant in order to halt pollution of the coastal waters. But district customers were shocked when they received bills in October with a 138% hike in sewer fees. Despite protests, district officials have declined to meet with angry homeowners.