The announcement by the City of Hollister that it proposes to
raise sewer rates as part of a strategy to finance a new treatment
plant was probably met with consternation by residents who got the
news.
The announcement by the City of Hollister that it proposes to raise sewer rates as part of a strategy to finance a new treatment plant was probably met with consternation by residents who got the news.
After all, one scheme has rates jumping from $62 per household to $92 this year. Then, rates would jump to $129 every two months in 2007-08.
Those are sizable increases. And the sewage treatment plant is a big-ticket item. It comes at a price tag of $120 million with projected completion in 2008-09. It promises a concrete result. Mayor Robert Scattini said this week that getting the state-imposed moratorium lifted is the city’s “No. 1 priority.”
Hollister needs this sewage treatment plant and accompanying catch-reservoir and spray fields. It is essential to growth and economic development. It is also essential to begin the process of building the plant as soon as possible because the cost of construction will not decrease.
So we applaud the city for putting together viable schemes in the face of impending criticism from some residents and, most likely, members of the business community who will take a look at rate-increase numbers and object on that basis alone. Hollister cannot have economic growth without paying a price, and freeing itself from the noose of the sewer moratorium is that payment.
Yet at the same time we support the city in its projected schemes, we also need to let it know it must be held accountable down the line. If the moratorium is lifted and growth takes place, city officials say the sewer-rate scheme would not have to be fully implemented because new development would help support the cost of the plant. By the third year of the projected scheme, residents would actually see a decrease in bi-monthly rates. A single-family residential home, for instance, would see an adjustment from a bill of $180.29 to $136.19, and a further reduction the following year.
Residents need some type of guaranty that should this scheme be implemented and come to fruition, the reductions will occur. Too often cities and municipalities back off of promises years after the proposal is set in motion. Don’t let that happen here.
Hollister needs a new sewage treatment plant no matter the circumstances. And yes, growth – the proposed Del Webb and DMB Associates developments come to mind immediately – will complicate the picture. But even low, limited, moderate, whatever-you-want-to-call-it growth requires a new treatment plant.
So we applaud the city for making progress, and urge that it promise responsibility for how the process unfolds.
