SEAL BEACH : Leisure World Faces Higher Water Rates

A new water rate formula that will increase some customers’ bills by more than 5% has been approved by the City Council.

The rates, which are designed to encourage conservation, should have little impact on the average household’s water bill but might mean sharp rate hikes for residents of Leisure World.

Most council members said the new formula was necessary. But Councilman George Brown, who lives in Leisure World, voted against the proposal Monday night, saying that it was unfair to retirement community residents.

The new rates amount to an overhaul in the methods Seal Beach uses to calculate water bills, said City Manager Jerry L. Bankston. The changes benefit people who reduce their water consumption.

For the average household that uses between 9,000 and 12,000 gallons of water a month, the bill should remain steady at about $12.50, according to Bankston.

Rates will increase by about 5.7% for households that use about 15,000 gallons of water per month or more.

Leisure World residents could see rate hikes ranging from 4% to 24%, depending on whether the community reduces or increases its water consumption, Bankston said.

Brown complained that Leisure World receives only one water bill from the city, the payment of which is divided among residents. Therefore, individual residents would not receive the same financial benefits from conservation as other homeowners, he said.

“Every poor little soul in Leisure World . . . people on fixed incomes, will have to pay more,” Brown said. “It’s unfair.”

Another Leisure World resident, Councilman William J. Doane, disagreed. “We’ve got to make this city pay for itself,” he said.