Water Rate Hike Rejected : Conservation: San Diego City Council votes 5-3 against increase. Foes said it would be a slap in the face to those who conserved water during drought.

Saying San Diegans do not need a slap in the face after the success of the city’s voluntary water conservation program this summer, the San Diego City Council on Tuesday voted down a proposed increase in water rates.

The council voted 5-3 against a proposal to increase water bills by 6% this fall and by an equal amount during each of the next four years. The council’s Public Services and Safety Committee had recommended passage of the measure.

Voting for the rate hikes were Councilmen John Hartley, Wes Pratt and Bob Filner.

The city Water Utilities Department characterized the proposed rate increase as modest, but some council members contended the hike would have had a magnified impact on low- and middle-income families because sewer costs also were recently increased.

The rate hike would have raised $6.7 million in the 1990-91 fiscal year and an estimated $60 million during the next five years for operations, maintenance and upgrading of the municipal water system, said Steve Hogan, deputy director of the city water department.

The loss of anticipated revenue means equivalent funding cuts will have to be made in the water department budget, Hogan said.

Council members said it would have been inappropriate to raise water rates after San Diegans responded to calls to voluntarily conserve water this summer by cutting their average usage by 10.7% from June through September. The voluntary program was in contrast to communities across California that enacted mandatory conservation measures.

“A rate hike would be a slap at all the people who conserved water,” Mayor Maureen O’Connor said. “I won’t vote to raise rates. We’ll have to tighten the budget.” Water rates were raised three times in the past decade, in 1987, 1986 and 1982.

Under Tuesday’s proposal, annual water bills would have increased 34% by mid-1995. For the average single-family home, the current yearly bill of $201.60 would have jumped to $269.80 by June, 1995.

The city also would have created a seasonal rate structure in which water would have cost more in the summer and early fall, when the costs of providing it also are the highest, than during the winter and spring.

The average single-family home’s monthly water bill would have risen immediately from $16.80 to $17.04 for the November-June “winter season” and to $19.56 for July-October. In succeeding years through 1994, the annual 6% rate increase would have taken effect July 1.

The council committee earlier this month rejected the water department’s request, in essence, to make this year’s proposed increase retroactive to last July 1 through higher rates during the next eight months.