GARDEN GROVE : Voters Could Get Say on Water Rate Hike

Volunteers have gathered 7,200 signatures from Garden Grove residents to place on the March, 1996, ballot an ordinance that would repeal a $30-a-year water rate increase, Councilman Bob Dinsen said.

Dinsen and his supporters say that the increase, in effect since 1991, should have had voter approval. They cite a 1921 lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and the recent state Supreme Court affirmation of Proposition 62, which requires voter approval of general and special taxes.

Cities “have to prove to voters the need for increases,” Dinsen said.

The ordinance he has drafted would limit the city’s use of water rate revenue to water-related expenses and reduce the amount the city charges for overhead expenses from an average of 11% now to a flat 7.5%. It also would require voter approval of any bond issue for the water board.

City officials say that some water rate revenue is now used to subsidize public safety expenses. Repealing the increase would cause “major, million-dollar” problems for the city, Mayor Bruce A. Broadwater said Monday.

“We barely balance the budget as it is,” Broadwater said. The City Council has an understanding, the mayor said, that “anyone who takes a position to eliminate a tax say where they are going to get the money to replace it.”

Asked how the city might make up the lost revenue, Dinsen said that would not be necessary. “I figure the tax has just been gravy” for the city, he said.