By the end of Thursday’s Tres Pinos Water District board
meeting, locals had turned in an estimated 67 protests to the
proposed rate increases.
Tres Pinos – Things aren’t looking good for those pushing for water rate increases in Tres Pinos.
By the end of Thursday’s Tres Pinos Water District board meeting, locals had turned in an estimated 67 protests to the proposed rate increases. That’s more than the 60 protests required under Proposition 218 to bring the rate hike to a halt.
District Manager Pamela Alvarado said she received three protests in the mail. Most of the protests were collected by resident Bobby Zaucha, who pulled what he said were 64 protests from the waistband of his jeans and tossed them onto the board members’ table.
Zaucha, a former water board member, said Friday that the district needs to look at less expensive options for improvement rather than shoving the rate hikes “down somebody’s throat.”
“There’s options, other ideas that have not been considered,” Zaucha said. “It’s pretty easy to scrape off $50,000 here and $80,000 there on a project like this.”
If the rate increases are approved, an average household’s monthly bill would increase from $29 to $49.50, said Doug Dove of Berkeley-based consulting firm Bartle Wells Associates. And if there’s no new development in Tres Pinos, monthly rates would continue increasing to $81.85 in 2010.
But the money is needed to fund $1.66 million of water infrastructure improvements that would improve firefighting water flow and replace aging facilities, Dove said. And without the increase, the district would go broke in about three years.
“The current rates don’t even cover the cost of the existing water system,” he said.
The vote is still being checked, Alvarado said. But if it turns out that Zaucha’s campaign has succeeded, Alvarado said he will have done serious damage to the community.
“The district will go broke and no one will lend us a dime,” she said.
Alvarado isn’t the only one unhappy about Zaucha’s opposition to the rates. At the board meeting, Tres Pinos resident Janie Lausten said it would be “a shame” if the rate increases don’t pass. The water district is running out of money, she said, and it could end up under other another agency’s control if payments don’t increase.
“We’re in the 21st century, so let’s attempt to keep it in our control,” Lausten said.
Water board member Robert Frusetta declined to offer his position on the rate increases, but he said the situation isn’t as dire as others claim.
“No matter what happens, whether it fails or passes, the Tres Pinos District board of directors will be able to deal with the situation,” Frusetta said. “It’s hard to argue with a vote of the people.”
Alvarado and Lausten said Zaucha had been dishonest when collecting protests against the hikes. Zaucha denied any deliberate dishonesty on his part, and he said he doesn’t want to be seen as a “vigilante” just trying to stir up trouble.
“People have the same concerns as what I have,” he said. “They want options.”
Rate opponents were helped by the town’s small size. Zaucha had to round up only 60 protests. If someone had tried to stop Hollister’s sewer hikes in 2006, they would have had to collect more than 4,500 signatures.
