271% Hike in Water Rates on Tap

Come June 1, this bedroom community’s notoriously lousy water will be a thing of the past--and so will its historically low water rates.

The City Council tonight is expected to approve a long-anticipated rate hike of 271% to pay for the city’s new $15.5-million desalination plant and delivery line from Calleguas Municipal Water District, equipment that will give the city a second--and better-quality--water source.

The increase means that households should see water bills leap to $29.85 from $11 a month, now the lowest rate in the county.

“This is the one and only big one,” water Supt. Jim Passanisi said of the rate increase. “We’re solving all of our water-supply and quality problems at one time.”

Still, the jump is almost $4 a month more than city officials had estimated before the project was built.

But Mayor Jon Sharkey said the price is low compared to other cities in the county--the average monthly water bill in Ventura County is $37, according to a city survey--and he has encountered few complaints from local residents.

“Although we’re looking at a big water increase right now, what this does is guarantee us rate stability for the next 10 years,” Sharkey said. “And we are going to have good-quality water for the first time in the history of the city.”

That good-quality water will come pouring through residents’ taps June 1, the same day that the rate increase is to take effect.

The improvement will enable residents to unhook water purifiers, saving money on the cost of chemicals or bottled water that many people in the area use.

The water will temporarily come from Calleguas until the treatment plant comes online in late summer, City Manager Dick Velthoen said.

The treatment plant will purify what before June 1 was the city’s only source of water--cloudy, pipe-rotting and virtually unpalatable stuff that came from United Water District’s El Rio wells.

That water will eventually be blended with water from the State Water Project via Calleguas to satisfy the needs of the more than 50,000 people in the city, the Channel Islands Beach Community Services District and the county’s two naval bases.

City officials say the project will not only guarantee a long-term supply of water for the region, but also ensure that rates won’t significantly increase--inflation aside--for the next decade.

“I think people are going to be shocked in the next 10 to 20 years over how much water is going to cost,” Sharkey said.

Only a wide-scale protest tonight will stop the increase, city officials have said. But that is not expected.

Passanisi said that although he has personally responded to the inquiries of about 100 residents, many of the comments he has received have been supportive.

Indeed, even senior citizens and others on fixed incomes who will be hardest hit by the increase have not objected, officials said.

The Port Hueneme Council on Aging, an advisory panel to the City Council, has not protested the hike.

“In fact, in general, they’ve been supportive of it,” said Lisa Donley, the administrator who oversees the nine-member panel. “A lot of these folks have lived in Hueneme for many years and have dealt with the situations poor water quality creates, including pipe replacement and that sort of thing.”

Most opposition to the rate increase has come from the nearby beach communities of Hollywood-by-the-Sea, Hollywood Beach and Silver Strand.

The 11,000 people in those areas, served by the Channel Islands Beach Community Services District, pay substantially more than Port Hueneme users and will see a further increase of at least 11% this year. Water officials predict that the average bill could reach $42 monthly.

The district board has fought hard against the water project since a board majority in favor of it was replaced by one opposed to district participation two years ago.

President Vickie Finan said the opposition is so entrenched that the board may not even hook up to the project and receive the improved water that people are already paying for there.

She believes the project is unnecessary now that there is plenty of relatively cheap water available around the state.

And she believes people in the beach communities are essentially subsidizing the supplies in Port Hueneme. Unlike residents of the unincorporated beach areas, those in Port Hueneme can use as much water as they want because the city is one of the few communities where water is not metered, Finan said.

“There is no incentive over there if you have a leaky water pipe to even fix it,” she said. “It’s like we bought a ticket on the Titanic and we’re going to get on board knowing it’s going under. It’s an expensive alternative.”

Port Hueneme officials dismiss Finan’s claims as shortsighted and just plain wrong.

“Under California law, we cannot run this to make a profit,” Sharkey said. “We have to do this on what it costs to deliver water to your tap.”