ANAHEIM : Water Fee Study on Tap
Concerned that a proposed 1.5% increase in water rates amounts to a tax hike, City Council members Tuesday will reconsider a fee restructuring program.
Councilman Bob Zemel said he objects to the rate hike because it was prompted by a right-of-way fee Anaheim is charging its own Public Utility Department. The department is fiscally independent of the city.
The right-of-way fee was approved by the city in June, 1994, to help Anaheim cover a nearly $9-million budget deficit for the 1994-95 fiscal year.
Zemel argued that when the city charges its utility department a fee, the utility should not pass that fee on to water customers in the form of a rate increase.
If the 1.5% water rate hike does win council approval, the city would receive about $500,000 a year in additional revenue, officials said.
Council members appeared more supportive of a water rate restructuring plan that would result in lower bills for residential customers and higher bills for industrial and commercial users.
Residents now subsidize water rates for commercial and industrial users, said Edward K. Aghjayan, Anaheim’s public utilities general manager.
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