Yaroslavsky Offers Plan to Lessen DWP Rate Hike
Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky on Monday proposed an alternative plan for balancing the books at the Department of Water and Power, in an effort to reduce a proposed 11% hike in water rates to just 3.6%.
Yaroslavsky said he will ask the council to consider a plan to slice an additional $12.5 million from this year’s capital projects budget, eliminate $6 million in rebates for customers who meet their water conservation goals and take an additional $1.6 million out of the DWP’s public affairs budget.
Mike Gage, president of the DWP Board of Commissioners, said that he will review the proposal, but reiterated a staff finding that any additional cuts in capital projects would require the department to break existing contracts. In addition, Gage noted, the $6-million rebate program was adopted by the DWP at the urging of the council.
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