VENTURA : 7% Hike in Sewage, Water Rates Proposed

Water and sewage rates could rise 7% for the average Ventura household if the Ventura City Council approves a recommendation made Wednesday by the city’s utilities committee.

A median city household today spends about $75.25 on water and sewage every other month. The recommendation, approved 2 to 0 by the committee, would raise that bill by $4.91 bimonthly.

City Councilman Steve Bennett and Mayor Tom Buford voted to recommend the increase. Councilman Jack Tingstrom, the third member of the three-member council committee, was absent for the vote. However, he has opposed the increase in the past because it would increase sanitation rates 12% to 18% for industrial customers, and up to 10% for commercial customers.

The fee hikes will pay for increased operating costs and future water and sewer projects. A limited amount will also finance a low-interest loan program to help businesses invest in sanitation pre-treatment facilities that would lower their overall sanitation costs.

City staff had recommended raising the water and sanitation rates by an additional 1% to 2% to pay for increased administrative costs, but Buford balked. “I think there comes a point where it’s going up and going up, and people say, ‘I don’t care why you are doing this, the fees just keep going up,’ ” he said.

With Tingstrom absent and Bennett voting to recommend the additional increase, the administrative increase proposal will go to the full council next month without a formal recommendation from the committee.

The committee also recommended raising an average family’s flood control assessment by $2.49--to $7.40 a year--to pay for a federally mandated storm-water treatment program.