Tonight the Hollister City Council will be confronted by public
opinion about an increase in sewer rates that would help pay for a
$120 million treatment plant. We believe the council should approve
the rate plan a soon as possible should there not be enough
signatures to stop the proposal.
The time is now. Hollister cannot wait any longer. It is not a question of growth anymore. It is a question of economic sustainability. This town currently has its neck in an economic noose. The moratorium levied by the state in 2002 has placed Hollister into an economic depression that not only has stifled any kind of meaningful growth – slow, fast, or moderate – but has cast a gloom over the current economy.
City officials estimate that the monthly sewer rate plan would fund 54 percent of the proposed plant that is expected to be completed in 2008. Keep in mind that the state has mandated that the city build a new sewer, and not solely to facilitate growth. The city has been ordered to revamp its current facility to handle what already exists. If the city does not comply, the state will impose costly sanctions. Fines. Large ones. Should that happen, Hollister would not only lose the ability to progress, it would actually go backwards, and into a deep financial hole.
“We’re all impacted by this,” Vice Mayor Brad Pike said recently. “There’s no room for error. The state is telling us to jump three feet high, not two-and-a-half.”
The new rates will be burden. There is no question regarding that. Seniors will be eligible for a break, but even their bills will increase, and the bills for residents will come as a shock to anyone who has not been paying attention to the issue. If form holds true, many residents will not protest until new rates have actually been implemented.
So we urge residents to attend tonight’s meeting and have their say. We have been urging residents to attend any sewer-related meetings for weeks, months, years, but now is the time. In August nearly 100 residents attended a meeting in a local middle school gymnasium and many citizens spoke their mind. It was a pretty good turnout, but not great. We assume some of the same people will attend tonight’s meeting.
This issue has been beaten nearly senseless. The city has been accused of not exploring alternatives. Yet a few weeks ago another public meeting was held to discuss alternatives, and the principles involved ended up agreeing with and endorsing the city’s plan.
So let’s let the city get this thing going. It will hurt. But as noted, this isn’t just about growth; this is about keeping he city’s current population healthy.
“If we don’t do it now, the city will die,” Pike said. Hyperbole? Perhaps. But at the least, unrelenting economic gloom. The city should approve its sewer-rate plan. The sooner the better.
