The Sunnyvale Sun

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Residents' water bills will swell 9.5 percent by August

By Stephen Baxter

Water, sewer and garbage bills in Sunnyvale will jump an average of 8 percent to pay for rising wholesale water costs, city pipes maintenance and a new contract for garbage sorters.

The water rate will rise 9.5 percent, the sewer rate 8.5 percent and the garbage rate 6.5 percent for an average increase of $6.24. The new rates will start on July or August bills, the city council decided June 12.

"If we don't raise these rates we can't provide water. We have no choice here," said Councilman John Howe.

The average monthly residential bills for water, sewer and garbage will total $84.04--about $2 more than for the average Santa Clara family and roughly $25 less than the average bill in nine South Bay cities. The city does not earn a profit on utilities revenue.

Last year, city water rates rose 11.5 percent in response to a San Francisco Public Utilities Commission wholesale rate hike of 18 percent. SFPUC rates are expected to rise another 6 percent in 2007, and Santa Clara Valley Water District also has raised rates. The two authorities provide roughly 80 percent of the city's water.

Sunnyvale is also spending $50 million on a 20-year plan to upgrade the its aging water delivery system, said Tim Kirby, Sunnyvale's revenue systems supervisor.

Sewer rates will climb in part to pay for maintenance on the city's water pollution control plant and a replacement plant in the future. A $330 million replacement project would take 10 to 12 years, according to a city staff report.

The city's garbage rate will climb because more tons of waste are collected and because of a new seven-year contract with Bay Counties Waste Services to oversee trash sorting at the Sunnyvale Materials Recovery and Transfer Station. The city council approved the contract on Feb. 13.

To comply with a 2006 state Supreme Court decision, the city on April 28 mailed roughly 45,000 notices of the water rate hikes to water customers and property owners. Apartment renters did not receive notices.

Eighty-one protests were received, mainly from low- and fixed-income residents, city officials said. Under the court's decision, the council's rate increase decision can be negated if more than 20,409 protests are received.

At the council's June 12 meeting, some Sunnyvale residents complained that the notices did not provide justification for the increased rates, and one man barked at the council for not supplying a protest form in the notice.

Councilman Ron Swegles, who manages Willow Ranch Mobile Home Park in Sunnyvale, said he did not receive any complaints about the rate hikes from his residents.