Simi Officials Ask Grand Jury to Investigate Water Rate Hike : Calleguas: The city says prices were raised 28% without justification. The district cites higher costs and improvement plans.

In an ongoing battle over water rates, Simi Valley has asked the Ventura County grand jury to investigate the agency that supplies water to about 500,000 people in five cities.

Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton wrote in a letter to grand jury Foreman Robert J. Gallagher that the Calleguas Municipal Water District has failed to justify a recent 28% rate increase.

Stratton also said that Calleguas has ignored repeated requests from the city for information about the projects it plans to build.

Calleguas “has periodically increased its rates without making any written staff report or justifying information available prior to or at the public meeting,” Stratton said in the letter dated July 3. “We therefore respectfully request that the grand jury review rate increase procedures of CMWD.”

Patrick Miller, chairman of the five-member Calleguas board, said that if Simi Valley officials do not understand the reasons for the rate hike, it is their own fault.

Miller noted that council members were invited to meetings at which the rate increase was discussed. But he said they never came.

“I have yet to see a city councilman from Simi Valley there,” Miller said. “We have had them from Oxnard, and we have had them from Thousand Oaks.”

An attorney who represents Calleguas said the agency has never been the subject of a grand jury investigation in its 36-year history.

“It’s now up to the grand jury to decide what they want to do,” said Tom Anderle, district counsel for Calleguas. “We’ll cooperate 100% if they elect to do that.”

Although a grand jury in California can hear criminal cases, its main function under the state Constitution is to act as a watchdog on county and local government.

The 19-member Ventura County grand jury, which meets behind closed doors, was sworn in for the 1991-92 fiscal year on July 1.

Of the five cities that Calleguas supplies--Simi Valley, Oxnard, Thousand Oaks, Camarillo and Moorpark--Simi Valley has been the most critical of the rate increase.

Last month, the Simi Valley City Council threatened to take the water district to court over the rate increases. But so far it has not filed suit.

The increase that took effect July 1 raises the price of water by $76 for each acre-foot, from $271 to $347. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, enough to supply two average-sized families for a year.

About $31 of the $76 increase was due to an adjustment from Calleguas’ own supplier, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Calleguas officials agreed in April to add the remaining $45 in order to finance $185 million in water projects over the next decade.

For Simi Valley residents, higher rates mean the cost of water has jumped from 64 cents to 84 cents for every 100 cubic feet of water. For a typical household, it will mean an increase of about $8 in its bimonthly bills, city officials said.

Miller said Simi Valley will benefit from the projects planned, including a pipeline and a treatment plant.

The largest is a $51-million treatment plant at Bard Reservoir. Located between Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, the reservoir holds 10,400 acre-feet of water.

The district also plans to construct an eight-foot-wide pipeline that would provide a new channel to bring imported water through Newhall down to Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park near Moorpark.

Another $20 million will go toward developing ways to use new water sources, including the undrinkable supplies of ground water under Simi Valley.

Stratton was unavailable for comment Friday. However, other council members said they believe that the water district should have provided written information, including environmental reports on particular projects.

“There’s been no environmental report done on these projects, and yet they’re already collecting money from us,” Councilman Glen McAdoo said. “What they’ve done should not sit well with the general public.”

Although other cities have also questioned the need for higher water prices, mayors in Thousand Oaks and Camarillo said they do not support the grand jury’s involvement in the dispute with Calleguas.

Thousand Oaks Mayor Frank Schillo said the council there is waiting for more information before passing along an increase to city residents.

“We have to pass that rate increase on, and we must know why they’re doing this,” Schillo said. “But I don’t see any reason for an investigation.”

Camarillo passed along the rate increase this month, Mayor David Smith said. The council has asked for more details on the rate increase, but has yet to receive an answer.

“I don’t have enough information to support the investigation,” Smith said.