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This article from voiceofsandiego.com is an example of why this process is far too short for proper analysis of the proposed water & sewer rate increases. The article explains how about $1 in every $7 of rate increase will be going to the City's crippling pension and retiree health care, not to infrastructure repair and improvement. A February 27th final date for deciding rate increases is simply not enough time to ensure that these rate increases don't unfairly burden certain ratepayers versus others.
If you are a property owner or City of San Diego water & sewer customer, make sure you've filed a protest by clicking here.
According to voiceofsandiego,
"Mayor Jerry Sanders pledged during his 2005 run for office that he would not raise taxes to pay down the pension and retirement healthcare deficits that continue to strain city budgets. But a portion of the hikes to residents' water and sewer bills -- billed as needed funds for legally required repairs to both systems -- will be used to help pay down those mounting pension and health care costs. "
"More than 14 percent of the added service costs that Sanders is proposing for the next four years for water customers will go to paying pension and retirement healthcare costs, according to a voiceofsandiego.org analysis of city data. The review also showed that 15 percent of the sewer fee hike will be going to those retirement costs."
UPDATE February 6: Check out UCAN's analysis of the impact of the water & sewer increases. Residential customers carry load, and increases are over 12% for the average residential user, rather than the 6.5% the city claimed. Commercial customers have only just over 2% increase in the first year, and new construction actually gets a decrease!
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Many municipal owned systems have treated rate hikes like tax increases and avoided them for years. The Government Accountability Office estimates that 29% of water systems and 41% of sewer systems charge customers less than the cost of the service.
Recycling Ripoffs
When you purchase a bottled soft drink of less than 24 ounces, you pay a 5 cent recycling fee that you are alleged to receive back when you turn the bottle in for recycling. So, to preserve the environment, as well as asve some money, you save all those bottles and take hundreds to the local recycling center and what happens? You get ripped off! According to a little known section of the recycling law, the recycler does not have to pay you the 5 cents for each bottle if you turn in over 50 bottles, they simply weigh them and you get what amounts to 33 to 40 percent less for your bottle than the nickel you paid. It's even worse if you turn in 24 ounce or larger bottles that you paid a 10 cent recycling fee for! At Liberty Recycling in Carlsbad on December 4, I turned in 420 1 liter water bottles and received just over $13, when I should have received $21. Too bad says the recycling center and also the State of California Department of Conservation. Take 50 or less they say...and how do they even figure that pays for the fuel at $3.50 per gallon to drive to a recycling center and back. I don't mind helping reduce filling the landfill and polluting the earth, but I feel getting ripped off isn't the way to help anyone achieve a good feeling about recycling. So much for the smiling people on TV showing how you need to take your bottles back and they'll gladly count each one. I seem to remember the commercial and the woman waving the handful of bills...that sure wasn't truth in advertising since if they only count 50, there are only two bills possible in $2.50!
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