Sonoma conserves its way to water-rate hike

Will ‘modest’ increase be a drain on customers’ pocketbooks?|

When it comes to paying higher rates for water, Sonomans may soon be getting tapped.

That’s what the Sonoma City Council will decide Monday, when it considers what city staff describes as a “modest” increase of 0.8 percent in the city’s water rates.

Local water customers can chalk the proposed rate increase up to the old adage: no good deed goes unpunished. In this case, the good deed would be water conservation. According to the Sonoma County Water Agency, county residents decreased their drought-era water use last year by 20 percent, resulting in a similar revenue drop in the county’s water coffers. Under the Water Agency’s budget, that means the City of Sonoma’s wholesale water costs will rise for the 2016-2017 year by 6.9 percent – notably more than the 4 percent annual wholesale increase the city budgets for. To make up the difference, state law allows for the City to “pass through” the difference to customers which, when factored into the city’s water-rate model, results in the 0.8 percent proposed increase to ratepayers.

According to a report by the Sonoma Public Works Department, the city’s 6.9 percent wholesale rate increase is higher than in Santa Rosa and Petaluma due to “larger contributions to capital charges,” such as funding the Sonoma Booster Station Improvement Project.

“The current capital fund balance for the Sonoma Valley Aqueduct,” according to Public Works officials, “is hovering near zero.”

The report also stresses that the Sonoma County Water Agency’s rate increase is “less than a third of other Bay Area water agencies,” some of which are seeking 20 to 30 percent wholesale rate hikes.

If the council approves the increase, the new rates will take effect July 1; a notice of the adjustment will be mailed to customers with their water bills.

Email Jason at jason.walsh@ sonomanews.com.

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