FILLMORE : City Fights Proposed Phone Rate Increase

The city of Fillmore is protesting a one-year rate increase proposed by Pacific Bell that is intended to improve service in fire-ravaged Oakland and Berkeley.

Fillmore is alone among the five Ventura County cities served by Pacific Bell to protest the fee, proposed on behalf of victims of last year’s catastrophic fire in San Francisco’s East Bay.

If the Public Utilities Commission approves the $9.25-million increase, Pacific Bell would use the funds to install telephone lines underground in the two Bay Area cities.

“If the increase were to simply pay to restore service because of the catastrophic event, then everyone should chip in, (but) not for an enhancement of service,” Fillmore City Manager Roy Payne said. “Why should ratepayers who are not in the area pay for this improvement?”

Fillmore City Council members acknowledged that the increase would be small--about 5 cents a month for the average residential customer--but they said the issue is fairness rather than finances.

Pacific Bell officials said the proposed improvement is in response to requests from the two communities, where the underground lines are considered to be safer and less vulnerable to damage. Burying the lines costs 2 1/2 times as much as installing the traditional aboveground utility pole, company spokesman Craig Watts said.

“It’s the first time in the state there’s been a move to help one locality,” Watts said. “Our reason for going along with the request is that residents in the area have already borne substantial costs in rebuilding their homes and their lives.” He added that area residents would pay 25% of the total cost of putting the lines underground, plus a $1,000 reconnection fee.

Hearings on the increase have yet to be scheduled, but Sandra Graham, manager of the PUC’s public adviser’s office in Los Angeles, said it will probably be late spring or early summer before the commission makes its final decision.