Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Rainbow Water adopts new rates

The Rainbow Municipal Water District adopted rates for the remainder of calendar year 2018.

A 5-0 Rainbow board vote Feb. 27 approved the rates in the Proposition 218 notice sent to accountholders and property owners within the district while also calling for Proposition 218 notices to be sent every year rather than every five years as is required by law.

"The board did adopt the rates that were published," said Rainbow general manager Tom Kennedy.

In November 1996 the state's voters passed Proposition 218, which requires a public vote on benefit assessments. Proposition 218 exempts water agencies from raising rates if a cost of service study shows a relationship between the rates and the agency's cost to provide water. A rate setting policy can be in effect for up to five years and must include a rate design and public hearings.

Rainbow approved cost of service studies in 2010 and 2015. Although an update was not legally needed until 2020, the 2015 rate study was based on an estimated annual demand of 18,000 acre-feet and recent actual demand figures are closer to 16,000 acre-feet. The decreased sales created a revenue shortfall for Rainbow, so in July 2017 the Rainbow board approved a contract with Raftelis Financial Consultants for a new cost of service study.

"We developed the rate structure differently from what we had forecast," Kennedy said.

The new cost of service study also included funding approximately $3 million in capital improvement or major maintenance needs. "We needed to build into our rate structure a funding mechanism to get those projects done," Kennedy said.

The Proposition 218 exemption process requires mailed notice of new rates and includes a protest provision; if more than half of the district's property owners or account holders submit a protest letter the planned rate increase is rescinded.

"We sent out about 10,000 notices by mail," Kennedy said. "We had less than ten protest letters."

Only six of those protest letters were received prior to the start of the Feb. 27 meeting, and Kennedy counts protest letters received at the meeting in the total.

Although the Feb. 27 board meeting began at 1 p.m., Kennedy noted that even if more members of the public were able to attend the decision to adopt the new rates would not have been affected. "The Proposition 218 process is a written process," he said.

Some members of the public expressed their opposition to the new rates at the hearing.

"It was great to see the people come out and interact with the board," said Kennedy. "We had some great discussions."

The two-day notice of the increased rates is due to the 45-day period for public protests. The Jan. 10 notice date created a Feb. 25 eligibility date for the hearing, and since Rainbow's regular meetings are on the fourth Tuesday of the month, the Feb. 27 date was chosen for the hearing.

"We had hoped to have this ready for January, but it wasn't quite ready," Kennedy said. "That is why the timing is a little off."

The completed cost of service study was a prerequisite for the notice. "We had to revise our cost of service study," Kennedy said.

Some of Rainbow's costs are for infrastructure and operations, but Rainbow has no local water supply at this time so water is purchased from the San Diego County Water Authority.

"Most of our rate increase is pass-through from the Water Authority, so not much we can do about it," Kennedy said. "The fact that we had so few protest letters indicates a great deal of confidence in what we're doing. We're kind of proud of that."

The commodity charge equates one unit to 100 cubic feet or 748 gallons. For single-family residential accounts or agricultural accounts with a residence, the commodity charge is $3.64 for the first 10 units each month and $3.86 for the 11th through 26th unit in a month. Single-family residences have a commodity charge of $4.27 for each unit over 26 while the agricultural charge for additional units is $3.56 as is the charge for all units for agricultural accounts without a residence. The commodity charge for all units is $3.76 for multi-family residential customers and $3.89 for commercial accounts.

The monthly fixed operation and maintenance charges for single-family or multi-family residential, commercial, or institutional accounts are $29.28 for a half-inch or 3/4-inch meter, $45.74 for a 1-inch meter, $86.85 for a 1 1/2-inch meter, $136.19 for a 2-inch meter, $292.42 for a 3-inch meter, $522.68 for a 4-inch meter, and $1,073.62 for a 6-inch meter. For agricultural accounts the monthly charge is $53.19 for a half-inch or 3/4-inch meter, $85.55 for a 1-inch meter, $166.50 for a 1 1/2-inch meter, $263.64 for a 2-inch meter, $571.22 for a 3-inch meter, $1,024.52 for a 4-inch meter, and $2,109.15 for a 6-inch meter. That does not include the SDCWA pass-through charge of $32.18 for a half-inch or 3/4-inch meter, $53.63 for a 1-inch meter, $107.27 for a 1 1/2-inch meter, $171.63 for a 2-inch meter, $375.43 for a 3-inch meter, $675.48 for a 4-inch meter, and $1,394.47 for a 6-inch meter.

"We're hoping to find the most equitable rate structure for our customers," Kennedy said.

Although the most recent cost of service study would not require another Proposition 218 notice until the end of 2022, written notice of annual rate increases will be sent to customers.

"The board did decide to do it just for one year," Kennedy said. "The board, after reviewing public input, decided to make it an annual plan. The thought was to increase transparency."

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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