Rainbow MWD approves rate increase

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The Rainbow Municipal Water District board held a rate increase hearing Aug. 24 before approving the 9 percent rate increase.

A 4-0 vote with Carl Rindfleisch absent approved the new rates which will take effect Sept. 1. The rate increase, not including any increases in the cost of water purchased from the San Diego County Water Authority, will be 9% the first year. The hearing also approved lower increases in the four subsequent years.

"It's regrettable that we need to raise the rates," said board president Hayden Hamilton.

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

"We spent a little extra time on our Prop. 218 notice," said Rainbow general manager Tom Kennedy. "I think the results showed by having only nine protest letters."

Ratepayers were allowed to submit protest letters. "We had a total of nine protest letters, which was great to see," Kennedy said.

The notice explained the reason for the rate increase. "That's really to offset the deferments we postponed," Hamilton said.

Rainbow last raised rates other than pass-through costs in 2019. "We can only do that for so long," Kennedy said. "We need to fund our pipeline replacement."

The hearing had three public speakers, although two of them were advised to switch from a residential account to an agricultural account. Kennedy noted that the agricultural account structure is intended for properties with high water usage. "We have high fixed charges and low variable charges," he said.

The new rates also included eliminating the tiered rate structure. Each billing unit is 100 cubic feet, or 748 gallons, and the tiers for single-family residential accounts had ranged from $3.73 to $4.48 per unit. Agricultural accounts had provided a discount for more than 28 units each month with the highest usage being $3.63 per unit for accounts not part of the Special Agriculture Water Rate and $3.15 per unit for SAWR accounts. Rainbow did not have a tiered system for multi-family residential accounts, whose rate was $3.87 per unit, or for commercial accounts which had been $4.03 per unit.

The new rates per unit will be $4.77 for single-family or multi-family residential, commercial, institutional, and construction accounts, $3.90 for non-SAWR agricultural accounts, and $3.53 for SAWR accounts.

The monthly fixed operation and maintenance charges for single-family or multi-family residential, commercial, or institutional accounts will increase from $65.56 to $68.29 for a half-inch or 3/4-inch meter, from $105.59 to $113.82 for a 1-inch meter, from $205.92 to $227.63 for a 1 1/2-inch meter, from $325.87 to $364.21 for a 2-inch meter, from $705.81 to $796.82 for a 3-inch meter, from $1,266.04 to $1,434.09 for a 4-inch meter, and from $2,606.55 to $2,959.23 for a 6-inch meter.

For non-SAWR agricultural accounts the increase will be from $94.25 to $115.64 for a half-inch or 3/4-inch meter, from $153.26 to $192.74 for a 1-inch meter, from $301.20 to $385.46 for a 1 1/2-inch meter, from $478.61 to $616.74 for a 2-inch meter, from $1,040.37 to $1,349.14 for a 3-inch meter, from $1,868.25 to $2,428.44 for a 4-inch meter, and from $3,849.18 to $5,011.06 for a 6-inch meter.

The amounts include the SDCWA pass-through charge, and the most recent SDCWA rates have a lower charge for SAWR customers than for non-SAWR agricultural users.

The total monthly Rainbow and CWA charge for SAWR accounts will be $99.09 for a half-inch or 3/4-inch meter, $165.15 for a 1-inch meter, $330.30 for a 1 1/2-inch meter, $628.58 for a 2-inch meter, $1,156.05 for a 3-inch meter, $2,080.89 for a 4-inch meter, and $4,293.90 for a 6-inch meter.

The rate increase hearing also approved a 5% increase for 2022-23, a 4.5% increase for 2023-24, and 3% increases for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Rainbow and the Fallbrook Public Utility District desire to detach from the San Diego County Water Authority and annex into the Eastern Municipal Water District, and the detachment would provide a lower wholesale cost. "If we can detach next year, we can start reducing rates," Kennedy said.