Homeowners Unite Against Fee Increases : Ventura: Coalition leader says condominium associations carry ‘disproportionate financial burden.’ A city official disagrees.

Last month, Ventura residents saw their water fees go up.

On Monday, they watched the City Council hike their garbage collection rates.

Now, Ventura’s condominium associations are fighting back.

“The City Council of Ventura has just passed an increase in water and sanitation rates,” announces the prerecorded tape on the Ventura Homeowner Assn. Coalition hot line. “And, the worst is yet to come.”

Not only are trash fees scheduled to rise, but so will taxes imposed by the county flood control district, the tape says.

“In all of this, the HOAs are forced to carry a disproportionate financial burden,” warns the voice of Marv Rochetti, chairman of the new coalition. “Please leave us your name, title and the name of your HOA organization, and we would like to invite you to our August meeting.”

The coalition, organizers promise, will give a single, unified voice to thousands of condo owners, vocally representing their interests any time that City Hall attempts to charge them more money.

“We are now players in the political scene,” Rochetti said Thursday of the fledgling operation, which purports to represent 15 of the roughly 45 condominium associations in Ventura. That means that the coalition speaks for about half of the 4,000 condominium households citywide, Rochetti said.

*

The idea for the coalition germinated last month among condo owners in La Ventana Greens when the city reconfigured water rates and fees for the complex at Johnson Drive and Telephone Road, boosting water bills significantly. “Whenever something comes up, it’s always, ‘Let’s sock it to the homeowners,’ ” Rochetti said.

Frustrated because they believed that no one at City Hall listened to their individual complaints, La Ventana Greens homeowners realized that strength lies in numbers. They contacted some other condominium associations that also saw their fees rise and held a preliminary meeting earlier this month.

Next month should be the real organizational meeting, where the presidents of the various condo groups can get together and brainstorm how to blockade municipal service fee hikes, Rochetti said.

Henry Graumlich, an employee of Ventura’s public works department, said the city welcomes comments from residents. But the La Ventana Greens group is not telling the full story, he added.

Ventura charged all condominium associations a flat rate for water service last year, and only reconsidered the fee structure because La Ventana Greens homeowners and other condo associations complained, Graumlich said.

Single-family homes, in contrast, had a tiered rating system that charged homeowners higher fees for higher usage. And, Graumlich said, condo owners wanted the same treatment.

*

So the city constructed a tiered rating system for apartment and condo complexes this year--and La Ventana Greens’ water rates suddenly shot up, Graumlich said.

“They’re no longer being subsidized by the other condos that are more efficient,” he said.

Graumlich said condo associations that are saving money under the reworked billing system have not contacted city officials.

Paul Owen, another La Ventana Greens homeowner, said he and his neighbors are still unhappy because the system puts well-landscaped complexes such as theirs at a disadvantage to most single-family homes.

In any case, Owen and Rochetti said whatever discriminatory measures have been passed against condos in the past will not happen again in the future.

“Of course, we’re like all the other HOAs,” Rochetti said. “We’re NIMBYs--not in my back yard.”

And that’s just fine with Steve Bennett, a city councilman and former grass-roots activist.

“I welcome the democratic input,” said Bennett, who voted for this year’s water fee increases. “If they all come to our meetings, then they will have more understanding of the costs we face.”

FYI

The next meeting of the Ventura Homeowner Assn. Coalition is tentatively scheduled Monday. For information, call the coalition’s hot line at 655-7787.