City Vote Planned on Senior Subsidies

Seeking to circumvent the consequences of Proposition 218, the City Council wants voters to decide whether they want to continue subsidizing reduced water and sewer rates of low-income seniors.

The council authorized holding a mail election within the next 60 days to determine whether the city’s ratepayers wish to continue subsidizing the reduced rates that low-income seniors have received since 1977. Without the subsidies, water and sewage rates would nearly double for those seniors.

The reduced rates will remain in effect until the election results are tallied. There will be two separate ballots mailed to ratepayers, one from the city about subsidizing water rates and one from its sanitation district regarding sewage fees.

“We don’t have any other options as presented by our attorney, so we’re limited in scope of what we can and can’t do,” said newly elected Mike Morgan, a former councilman who was voted back into office last month, replacing the late Ken Gose.

“The other options we’ve presented have been shot down as potential violations of Proposition 218,” Morgan said after returning from a closed session with the council.

Essentially a tax-cutting initiative, Proposition 218 grants residents the right to vote on all sorts of taxes, fees and little-known assessments. Special taxes, which benefit a specific neighborhood or district, must pass by a two-thirds vote.

Before the closed session, council members discussed using community development block grants to subsidize the rates. But such a move is prohibited by the Housing and Urban Development Department, which issues the grants.

The council also discussed using its own redevelopment funds, an idea that Deputy City Atty. Ken Rozell quickly shot down when he explained that those funds should only be used to build new or remodel existing housing for seniors.

At that point, Rozell suggested the council continue its discussion in closed session.

“Anything we do, we’re breaking new ground with Proposition 218,” City Manager Bill Little said. “. . . And anyone could take umbrage and file a lawsuit against us.”

City Atty. Robert Flandrick advised the council two weeks ago that water and sewage rates can no longer be subsidized because Proposition 218 prohibits cities from charging higher rates to some customers in order to subsidize the rates of others without their permission.

If the citywide vote to continue subsidies fails, low-income seniors’ monthly sewer rates will nearly double from $10.92 to $21.08 for those living in single-family homes.

Subsidized seniors, who now pay $10.75 for up to 10 units, or 7,480 gallons, of water, will have to pay that rate plus $1.16 for each unit of water they use.

In order to qualify for reduced rates, residents 62 and older must have annual income below $15,000 and water consumption not more than 10 units per month, or they are charged the standard rate.

Each year, about $30,000 from regular rates along with interest earned on the money subsidizes the lower rates for seniors, which is equal to about 26 cents a month per customer.

Although more than 150 low-income seniors were notified that their rates may double, just a handful have called or submitted letters objecting to the rate hike and only one resident showed up to speak to the council.

“I’ve been on the senior subsidy since my husband passed away 10 years ago,” said Mara McCarthy, 70. “I’m wanting to know why this rate can’t continue. People with families pay the same rate I’d be paying and I find it not very comforting.”

McCarthy said she thought other seniors might not have attended because of confusion about the schedule for public comments. She said the potential rate increase just does not make sense.

“It comes down to a matter of dollars and cents, and when they put Proposition 218 on the ballot, people just didn’t know what they were voting for,” McCarthy said.