Hollister
– A lifelong city resident is organizing opposition to the city
council’s planned sewer rate hike this week that she hopes will
convince officials to rethink their plans for a new $120 million
sewer treatment plant.
Hollister – A lifelong city resident is organizing opposition to the city council’s planned sewer rate hike this week that she hopes will convince officials to rethink their plans for a new $120 million sewer treatment plant.
Anita Pedrazzi-Minkel sent out a letter to friends and neighbors earlier this week urging Hollisterites to protest the planned rate hike needed to fund the sewer project and lift the state-imposed moratorium on new sewer connections. And during the weeks before the city holds its state-mandated public hearing on the rate increases, Pedrazzi-Minkel plans to collect signatures in opposition at local supermarkets.
“I’m trying to make sure they (city officials) don’t increase the rate without additional studies and without looking at other options for the sewer,” she said Thursday. “They’ve got us over the barrel for $120 million when what they need to be doing is putting this project out for bids.”
Pedrazzi-Minkel said she was concerned about the effect the rate hikes would have on senior citizens and other taxpayers.
In a letter of opposition she sent out this week, Pedrazzi-Minkel urged residents to protest the rate increase, writing, “there are other options available to the city besides passing this on to us. One option would be to build it into the cost of new construction permits and let developers pay for it.”
Others are also hoping to convince the city to look at other options for the sewer. San Benito County Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz is sponsoring a meeting Monday that will feature a brief presentation by city officials, including sewer project manager Dave Jones, followed by another speaker who will present alternative options to the city’s plan.
“We just want to give people other options to look at,” De La Cruz said. “We need to decide if we should support this or if we should oppose it.”
The meeting will be at 7pm Monday in the County Board of Supervisors Chambers.
The City Council recently detailed its plan to pay for the sewer by raising sewer rates 165 percent by 2009. Sewer rates would fund 54 percent of the project while new development and construction would pick up 46 percent of the costs. The city will have to float $120 million in bonds to pay for the project, which will end up costing more than $330 million after interest on the 30-year bonds is repaid. The sewer plant is expected to reach capacity in 15 years, at which point it would need to be expanded, according to Hollister City Manager Clint Quilter. Monthly sewer rates are determined by the city council. However, a majority protest by the city’s 9,300 commercial and residential property owners could block the council from approving the planned rate hikes. In order for the protest to be valid, it must be submitted in writing to the city clerk before the Sept. 5 public hearing.
Hollister Councilman Doug Emerson said the city has spent four years creating the plan for the new sewer and has limited time to revise at this point.
“We need to move forward,” he said. “We don’t want to be in the position of Los Osos.”
Residents of Los Osos, an unincorporated community in San Luis Obispo County, balked at the $150 million price tag of their sewer system and have become embroiled in debate about the project. Community officials and the Regional Water Quality Control Board, unable to find a suitable location for the treatment plant, have burdened the community with costly criss-crossing lawsuits about the fate of the sewer. The board fined Los Osos officials $6.6 million earlier this year for taking too long to build the sewer. Officials retorted with a countersuit in August claiming the fines violated their legal rights. The suit is still pending, according to media reports and a lawsuit filed in the San Luis Obispo Superior Court.
Business leaders have organized to support Hollister’s sewer project and help make sure it is completed on schedule by the end of 2008. One group, Community Leaders for Economic Activity and Recovery, has held several town hall meetings in the last few months to answer questions about the project. The group’s resource consultant, Annette Giacomazzi, doesn’t think the city or its residents can afford to delay the project with public protests.
“We expect opposition,” she said Thursday. “However, we believe the plan and proposed rate increase is the only option we have at this time to avoid additional state fines and the negative constraints the moratorium has imposed on our schools, roads and our quality of life.”
Giacomazzi has been active in local building and zoning politics for the last several years. She was recently hired to run Pulte Homes’ ballot initiative campaign. Pulte hopes to get the initiative, which would allow the company to pursue a 4,400-home senior community on the outskirts of Hollister, on the ballot in November. However the company won’t be able to build anything until the city’s moratorium on new sewer connections is lifted in 2009 following the completion of the new sewer plant. Giacomazzi also lobbied against the California Miwok Tribe’s attempt to build a $100-300 million casino off Highway 25 in 2004. The tribe’s plan for a casino never gained a foothold in the county and was ultimately rejected by both city and county officials. Before her work against the casino, Giacomazzi organized the No on G Committee, which was successful in helping defeat a controversial growth control initiative in 2004.
The state placed a moratorium on new sewage connections in Hollister after 15 million gallons of treated wastewater spilled into the San Benito River in 2002. The moratorium, which has brought new construction and development to a virtual standstill, has hurt the city’s economy.
The sewer project will be paid for with money generated from selling bonds. Since the city will not be able to use impact fees from new construction to cover the bonds, officials have created a plan that uses sewer rate increases and future impact fees to complete the project.
Under the new rate schedule a single family residential water bill will increase 165 percent in the next five years, jumping from $31.30 a month to $124.40 a month by 2009. The increasing rates will be introduced incrementally, starting with a 48 percent hike this year. However, city officials hope the plan doesn’t have to implement the full rate increase, anticipating that impact fees from new development once the moratorium is lifted will cover nearly half of the plant’s construction costs. If that assumption holds up, the sewer rate increase would be significantly less drastic, with the monthly rate climbing to $71.50 by 2009 instead of $124.40. Assumptions aside, the city council will have to approve the new sewage rate scheme to demonstrate that it can generate enough revenue to satisfy the bonding company.
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or
br******@fr***********.com
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