Valley Is Winner in Council Vote on Water Rates

Culminating nearly two years of study and often heated debate, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday voted to provide water-rate relief to residents who live on large lots, have large families or reside in hot climates.

Because the water-rate changes would mostly benefit San Fernando Valley residents, the issue has pitted Valley lawmakers against council members from other communities where rates will increase for many users.

The two sides squared off again Wednesday as the council voted 8 to 4 for the new breaks. Because the measure failed to receive a 12-vote majority, it will require a second vote next week before it goes to Mayor Richard Riordan.

But no new opposition is expected and the changes will likely take effect June 1.

Supporters say the water breaks will make the Department of Water and Power’s rate formula more equitable for residents who have paid huge water bills in the past due to circumstances beyond their control, such as hot temperatures and lot size.

“It’s an improvement,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick, who represents a Valley district where 45% of the households are slated to receive reduced rates. “I think some people in the San Fernando Valley will get the benefits they deserve.”

But opponents say the changes are unfair because residents who don’t qualify will face higher rates.

“The difficulty I have is that (the rate breaks) come out of the hide of my constituents,” said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, adding that about 25% of the households in his South Los Angeles district will see higher water bills. He joined council members Rita Walters, Nate Holden and Rudy Svorinich Jr. in opposing the breaks.

The water-rate debate originated in early 1993, when the city adopted a two-tier rate structure that was designed to promote conservation by imposing a high rate on customers who use more than twice the city’s median amount of water and a lower rate for more frugal users.

But in the summer of that year, Valley residents flooded City Hall with phone calls and letters, complaining about water bills that, in some cases, had skyrocketed to as much as $900 for a two-month period.

In response to such complaints, Riordan reconvened the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Water Rates--the same citizens’ panel that developed the two-tier system in the first place--and instructed the committee to address the complaints.

Last June, the panel voted to keep the basic two-tier formula intact to promote conservation. But the committee also proposed breaks for residents who have large lots, big families or live in hot climates. Such residents can spend an extra allotment of water before the higher rate kicks in.

But when that formula finally reached the City Council last month, neither supporters nor opponents could generate enough votes to adopt or kill the measure.

The deadlock was apparently broken after Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, who represents Hollywood and surrounding areas, offered a compromise measure that automatically gives breaks to residents in 24 ZIP codes in the Valley and South and East Los Angeles, where large families are prevalent.

Goldberg proposed the amendment because under the original rate structure large families had to apply to the DWP for the relief. Goldberg said she fears many residents are unlikely to file the paperwork needed to get the break.

Under Goldberg’s amendment, all water users in the ZIP codes would get the breaks, but DWP officials would attempt to identify those households that do not have more than seven family members and therefore do not qualify.

At one point, Goldberg’s amendment was bogged down in legal problems because the city attorney’s office said it was discriminatory for offering relief to everyone in the targeted ZIP codes.

The legal problems, however, were eliminated when DWP officials said they would weed out the smaller families who did not qualify for the breaks.

Goldberg’s amendment could cost the city up to $500,000 annually, depending on how many families take advantage of the breaks, DWP officials said.

Some residents who do not qualify for the breaks will pay higher bills because they will be allotted less water before the higher tier kicks in.

In the previous formula, the higher tier did not take effect until a household used more than twice the city’s median water amount. Under the new formula, the higher tier kicks in after a household uses more than 125% of the water consumed by similar-sized households citywide.

Although DWP representatives have said that about 60% of the agency’s 452,000 single-family customers will pay lower bills under the formula change, such assurances failed to quell the opposition.

After the vote, Ridley-Thomas accused Riordan of using the water-rate breaks as a “payoff” to Valley residents who came out in large numbers to elect him in 1993--a charge Riordan’s representatives rejected.

In a statement released after the vote, Riordan called the new water breaks “a compromise which promotes equity and fairness with the added benefit of promoting water conservation throughout all areas of Los Angeles.”

In the past, hearings on the water-rate changes have attracted loud protests from residents who faced higher rates under the proposal. But on Wednesday, no residents testified. There was also little testimony from opponents on the City Council.

The new rate structure is based on a complex formula that on paper resembles a federal tax form. It creates five categories for lot sizes and eight categories for household sizes. Each ZIP code in the city also corresponds to one of three climate categories--cool, moderate and hot.

A resident can determine how much water he or she can use before the higher rates take effect by matching up his ZIP code, lot size and household size to the categories in the formula.

For example, a seven-person family living in Woodland Hills--which is categorized as having a hot climate--on a lot that is just under an acre in size can use 41,250 gallons of water each month in the summer before the higher rates are activated.

In contrast, a two-person family living on a lot smaller than 7,500 square feet in South-Central Los Angeles--which is categorized as a moderate climate zone--can use 10,500 gallons per month in the summer before the higher rate takes effect.