Alternatives to Sewer Rate Increase Sought

Facing a 10% sewer fee increase for all residents, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday instructed staff members to find a way to avoid the rate hike and investigate all spending from the city’s sewer operations.

Budget experts are predicting the city will need to increase the monthly average fee from $20.75 to $22.92 per household, or a total of about $26 more per year.

The rate hike is needed to make up for $12 million that Mayor Richard Riordan and the council diverted from a sewer maintenance account to balance the city budget last year.

The $680-million sewer maintenance account is used to operate and repair the city’s massive but aging sewer system. It is funded mostly with fees charged to residents and businesses that use the city’s sewers.

The city’s Bureau of Sanitation, which operates the sewer system, pays about $8 million each year into the general fund through so-called “franchise fees.” Riordan and the council last year increased that amount to $20 million to help eliminate a projected $101-million budget deficit.

But that is not the first time the council has tapped the account.

After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the city borrowed $6 million from the account to help pay for quake repair work. The money has not been paid back.

City analysts say the Bureau of Sanitation can no longer keep the fund from going broke without increasing the fees charged to residents.

The news of the higher rates frustrated some council members.

“I think there is a tendency to balance the budget with whatever is needed and suffer the consequences later,” said Councilman Joel Wachs, who had opposed diverting funds from the account last year.

“Well, later is coming faster than we thought,” he said.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, who called on city officials to find a way to avoid the increase, vowed to never divert funds from the account again.

“There is no way I’m going to vote for this next year,” she said.

Other council members called for a report on how money from the account is spent.

“No matter how you slice it, we have not been given good accounting of how these funds are spent,” said Councilman Hal Bernson, who introduced the motion to create the task force to investigate all the spending that comes out of the maintenance fund.

Besides the council, Bernson said he suspects other city agencies have been tapping the account for their own use--and he wants an accounting of that spending.

San Fernando Valley lawmakers were particularly concerned about the increased fees because they won a nasty battle last year to adopt a rate system that cut fees for their constituents. The proposed hike could wipe out those savings.

The new rate system was harshly criticized by inner-city council members who complained the cuts came at the expense of their constituents.

The new structure was prompted by Valley complaints that the sewer rates were unfairly based on water consumption. Because Valley homes have larger lots, Valley residents argued most of their water ends up in their lawns and gardens and not in the sewers.

On average, Valley residents pay about $25 less annually under the new structure. But the projected increase will easily wipe that out. Despite the increase, Valley residents on average will still pay less than residents in other parts of the city because of the tax break the city has already approved.

To balance the sewer maintenance fund, city officials predict a 3.5% increase in fees will be needed in 2000 and a 6.7% increase the following year.

The only way to avoid an increase, officials say, is to find ways to cut about $5 million a year in costs of operating and maintaining the city’s sewer system.