PORT HUENEME : Water Rates Raised to Pay for Mistake

To make up for a $631,000 underbilling by the city’s water provider, the Port Hueneme City Council agreed to raise rates for all water consumers.

The United Water Conservation District underbilled the city for three years because of faulty meters, said Public Works Director Jack Duffy.

To help pay its tab, the city will nearly double its residential rates over three years.

A second rate hike under the repayment plan was approved Wednesday.

Flat rates for older homes without meters will climb from $10 to $11 beginning in January, Duffy said. The city began boosting rates with a $3 increase last January, and rates will increase $1 in July, 1991 and July, 1992. Plans are to raise rates from $7 to $13 over four years.

For residents with meters, rates will increase to 78 cents per hundred cubic feet of water. Last January, meter rates climbed from 44 cents to 70 cents. In July, 1991 and July, 1992, rates are expected to climb to 88 cents and 97 cents, respectively. Those rates are the equivalent of a $1 increase, said Mayor Orvene Carpenter.

United Water replaced the meters shortly after discovering in August, 1989, that they had misplaced decimal points, Duffy said.

Also approved Wednesday was the city’s first conservation plan to deal with the current drought. Over the next year, the city hopes to cut its water use by 10%.

Under the plan, the city will begin an education campaign that includes conservation tips on water bills and continuing its policy of notifying abusers. The city also will monitor water use in parks and housing units.

In addition, the city plans to develop a two-tiered rate schedule to encourage conservation among top water consumers, such as homeowner associations and schools.

Those who exceed a monthly allotment might be penalized with double or even triple rates on excessive use.

During the last fiscal year, the city cut water consumption by 9%. Credit goes to city employees’ enforcement of city codes against water abuse and consumer consciousness about the drought, Duffy said.

“The policy will pose no hardships on anyone,” Duffy told the council.

The city especially hopes to save water at new buildings. Not only will they have to be fitted with low-flow toilets and plumbing, developers soon will be asked to pay for retrofit water-gobbling devices found in older buildings, said Carpenter.

Port Hueneme gets most of its water supply from United.

While United has urged all users to conserve, the water district hasn’t cut the city’s 1990-91 allocation of 3,700 acre-feet a year.