News | San Diego
Water district rates to rise 9% in '08

Padre Dam OKs annual increases through 2012

By Anne Krueger

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

August 29, 2007

Ratepayers in an East County water district will pay higher bills for the next five years after board members approved a rate increase yesterday.

The Padre Dam Municipal Water District board unanimously approved the yearly increases through 2012, beginning with a 9 percent increase next year, after hearing protests from four customers. The board also received written protests from 71 customers.

?This is not an easy thing to do,? board president Andy Menshek said after the vote. ?This is not something we do lightly. This is doing the right thing for future generations.?

Padre Dam serves a population of 97,000 in Santee, parts of El Cajon and in the unincorporated communities of Blossom Valley, Crest, Harbison Canyon and Alpine.

The increase means a typical customer in the western half of the district, who now pays $127.01 on a bimonthly bill, will pay $138.46 every two months beginning in January. By 2012, that customer will pay $198.98 every two months.

A typical customer in the eastern section of the district now paying $141.49 every two months will pay $212.91 by 2012. Sewer charges will increase from a typical bimonthly bill of $74.22 to $82.23 next year, rising to $121.66 every two months by 2012.

Bill increases beyond next year are estimates because the county water authority has not set its rates beyond 2008.

Six percent of the annual increase is for Padre Dam; district officials say the increase is necessary because of higher operation costs and the need to replace aging pipes and equipment. The other 3 percent is the result of an increase from the San Diego County Water Authority and the Metropolitan Water District, which supply water to county residents.

Larry Hertel, a Padre Dam customer from Alpine, urged the board to reconsider a rate increase each year instead of voting for a five-year increase.

?It is just out of line,? he said. ?I don't see how you can justify it.?

Last year, the district approved its first rate increase in five years. Padre Dam officials say maintenance has lagged because the board didn't approve rate increases before then.

The district's water meters, pumps and fire hydrants are all aging and need to be better maintained or replaced, said Mike Uhrhammer, Padre Dam's communications manager.

The district needs to spend $2.9 million a year on maintenance and $16.2 million a year for capital improvements, he said.

Anne Krueger: (619) 593-4962; anne.krueger@uniontrib.com