PORT HUENEME : City Will Increase Sewer Services Fee

In an effort to raise money for sewer repairs, the city of Port Hueneme will raise its sewer services fee from $15 to $16.50 a month.

“We have been operating on a deficit for the last two years,” said Douglas Breeze, the city’s manager of the Public Works Department. “We need extra funds desperately.”

Despite the increase, which will take effect Feb. 1, Port Hueneme will continue to have one of the lowest sewer services fees in the county and may not raise its fee again in the next five years, Breeze said.

Breeze said the city is in the process of completing a yearlong $1.6-million project to upgrade its sewer system. The improvements are expected to save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Since the project began in July, the city has been able to save up to $25,000 a month. The sewer rate hike could raise an estimated $18,000, Breeze said.

The upgrading of the sewer system consists primarily of fixing holes that have allowed ground water to enter sewer pipes and caused pipes to leak.

“I don’t think the sewage pipe system was ever inspected in the city,” Breeze said. “We hope to have all the leaking pipes fixed by the summer, and we expect to be able to inspect them every five years from now on.”