CALABASAS : Water and Sanitation Rates to Rise Up to 9%

For the third time in three years, the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District raised water and sanitation rates by up to 9%, effective in November.

As part of next year’s budget approved unanimously by the board of directors Monday night, the district raised rates for the average customer by about $3 to nearly $39 per month.

The increase was kept below a 15% rate hike proposed to offset increased water prices and reduced fees from new development.

“I’m pleased with the way we were able to stretch the budget to avoid an increase of that size,” said board member Glen Peterson. “We scaled back several things heavily, but we will be able to meet all of our goals.”

Peterson said the rate hike is partly a result of a similar price increase imposed by the massive Metropolitan Water District, which supplies water to Las Virgenes.

And with a steep drop in development between Topanga Canyon and the Ventura County line, the smaller agency is scrambling to find ways to pay its debt on ambitious projects undertaken during better times, such as a $50-million facility that will turn sewer sludge into compost.

Before the rate hikes of 7% for drinking water and 9% for reclaimed water are put in place in November, the board will hold at least two public hearings on how to structure the new rate schedules.

Although rates for the 14,000 households that use Las Virgenes water are still lower than those in most other Southern California districts, residents of the arid, semirural Conejo Valley area use nearly twice as much water as the statewide average.

In an attempt to minimize the rate increase, the board placed a hiring freeze on the district and cut major projects such as the installation of a pipeline along Agoura Road and construction of a new district headquarters.