Sewer Charges Hiked for Most Homeowners

The Glendale City Council has increased the city’s sewer rates for the average homeowner so that small businesses and large residential water users will pay less.

The changes adopted at the council meeting Tuesday are meant to rectify perceived inequities in the existing sewer rate system, which was adopted last September, dramatically raising the rates for some small businesses.

According to a report prepared by George Miller, director of public works, the bimonthly sewer fee for the average homeowner will increase about 6% from $31.40 to $33.20. Condominiums and apartments will be charged an average of 2% more per bill. Meanwhile, the rates for some small businesses will drop by 90%.

Miller’s report said the new rate structure will also generate an additional $1.5 million over last year.

“The intent is not to penalize the homeowner in favor of the business, the point was to have the businesses more equitably charged,” said Earnest Constan, a city engineer.

The report said the September rate structure charged all businesses--large and small--the same flat fee. Small-business owners’ fees increased drastically under the system, provoking many complaints.

The new rate structure adopted Tuesday ties sewer fees for businesses more closely to water use, lowering fees for businesses that use less water and increasing fees for those that use more, the report said.

The September system was also unfair to some homeowners, the report said, because the rate structure failed to account for water used for irrigation, which never reaches the sewers.

The new rate system presumes that people who use large amounts of water in their homes are maintaining lawns and gardens, and sets a $47.92 limit on water use-based sewer charges for homes.