On Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, I appeared before the Benicia City Council for the third time concerning the new increases in water and sewer rates. Previously, I had asked that the rates be deferred from July to November with the reasoning that usage would be down in the winter months. This was not accepted. The July 1, 2018 water and sewer bill have just been sent and social media is ablaze with negative comments.
I reiterated that the citizens are our customers and they are tired of hearing the why about the rate increases and want to be listened to. I read a social media comment that stated a family of three cannot understand how their bills keep increasing even with conservation efforts. Their grass has gone brown, they only run the dishwasher when it is full and yet their bills have gone from $180-$220 to $350. And there are more rate increases to come.
Currently, there is no point person in the city for information, complaints and service. Residents are referred to the Finance Department and then hopefully given direction.
One of my suggestions to the council was that a Water Hot Line be established in order to address the mounting complaints, questions and concerns and respond in a timely and compassionate matter. My other question was where the dedicated water and sewer funds stand. A report was promised along with the city’s conservation efforts the last time I appeared at the council in early spring. There was no response from the council except for the vice mayor saying it is slated for a future agenda in which the city manager responded that there is nothing scheduled. I am asking the council to freeze future rate hikes until we have a better understanding of the funds, projects and conservation status.
As a councilmember in 2016, I stand by my vote to increase the rates knowing that both funds were near bankruptcy and aging infrastructure was about to cause massive issues in getting clean water to our residents. We owe the citizens answers and stop trying to sell the why. Are you listening?
Christina Strawbridge is a former councilmember and current City Council candidate.
Sharing is caring!
That’s all well and good, Christina. But having a place to complain is not enough. Letting our lawns go brown and destroying tens of thousands of dollars of landscaping and allowing 20 year old trees to die is the result of city mismanagement going back decades. We live in a desert…true enough. We live next to water so sewer treatment is more expensive…true enough. But, my main complaint is the STUPID conservation strategy the city embarked upon during your tenure during the drought. Sure, everyone conserved and guess what (a 5 year old could have foreseen this), the water department went broke because you idiots in the city council were so adamant about stopping people from using THE RESOURCE THAT WE MUST HAVE. There is no easy way out now but you idiots caused this mess.
Just so you know, the conservation program the city embarked upon was mandated by the State Water Resources Control Board, under a declaration of emergency by the Governor, and the city faced enormous fines if it failed to implement it. It applied to all municipal agencies across the state, with the same result: a huge drop in water consumption and revenue for the water agencies. So your ire and name-calling are completely misdirected.
horse pucks…the city government was THRILLED to be the city that conserved the most. All because our STUPID CITY GOVERNMENT decided to do it. So my IRE is well placed on Christina and the entire council and mayor in those years.
They are still idiots and no one running is less of an idiot.
and even more…when the water district in town was going broke, they didn’t even THINK ABOUT trying to cut costs by firing people. Instead, they decided to ADD costs by changing out the water meters so EVERY DROP is accounted for. My IRE is well placed.
The meters were replaced because the city had 25% unaccounted for water: (UAW) that is a big revenue leak. 25% of the water going out the treatment plant was not charged to anyone. Meter tests showed some meters registering as little as 10% of the water used. Furthermore, the SWRCB has issued regulations mandating reductions in UAW for everyone in the state. That is where this all started, not the City Council.
Greg I do believe your comments are correct. But as far as the residents concerns the City Council did not put forth a plan to finance the issues of infrastructure which was not new. Yes the council did kick the can down the road for many years without small increments of increases. Then “Boom” the rubber hit the road. The natural reaction of the residents put the blame on the council. If they could not blame the council who were they going to blame. They had no one else to go to. The residents/voters felt let down and that is where its at now. Now they can voice their opinion. Very natural impact on the council by the residents/voters. All the council had to do was show the residents/voters a plan to relieve the immediate costs for the residents. A little bit of compassion is all the residents/voters asked. I asked that as a direct question to the mayor {what are you going to do about it} and got cut off. It went viral on Benicia Happenings. Yes this is still a big concern of the voters and the candidate that now shows concern of the voters/residence will go a long way in winning a seat on the city council. The voters/residence will go directly to elected councilmembers to solve this problem with there votes in November. If not then the problem is not as big of a concern to the voters/residents. Personally I still think it is very HOT and ALIVE. November election will give us that answer.
So what? Meter replacement became a priority because city government was proselytizing as if it were a holy war against water users. This resulted in the mess (the budget you fondly hope I will read) we have==but it does go back more than 20 years when THAT city government decided to get its water Berryessa (I think I remember that, but it might have been moving away from Berryessa). Basically, the city government has been idiots about water for as long as I’ve lived here (close to 40 years now). And yes, when revenues do not match income, you must trim services or staff…since you can’t trim services (people actually need water), you trim staff. Only idiots think otherwise. You don’t become decision makers unless you CAN make hard decisions.
So moving to Berryessa water was a mistake, Unless we moved away from it, in which case that was a mistake. Got it.
In fact the City moved to SWP water, and it was a lot longer ago than 20 years, Can you explain why that was a mistake? And why putting meters in so people pay for what they actually use is a mistake? Thanks
As to “firing people”, who would you fire? The treatment plant operators? The folks who maintain 150 miles of pipelines and the reservoirs and pump stations?
Fire them all and your rates will go down about 25% but your water service will become a little bit spotty, not to mention a bit non-potable..
Eliminate all benefits (medical, pension costs etc) and they will only go down 8%.
Go through the budget and tell us where you would cut expenses.
You can find it here:
https://www.ci.benicia.ca.us/vertical/sites/%7BF991A639-AAED-4E1A-9735-86EA195E2C8D%7D/uploads/Adopted_Budget.pdf
Yes, I have specific suggestions for the budget. First, fire the consultants that the inept city manager apparently needed in order to prepare the budget. Then fire the city manager since she apparently cannot do the work. The city executive management team is just a drain on our resources…I bet if they were gone, things would work better (always cut off the top of the tree before felling the whole thing). THEN, go back in time and fire the people who got us into so much debt that we have to spend 20% of our revenue on debt service. As I’ve been saying, our problems are long standing and are finally coming to roost due to city mis management over a long period of time.
those people you want fired are all largely paid through the general fund, nothing to do with the water enterprise fund…. and water bonds are a small part of the water budget (less than 10%). Sorry, your suggestions won’t do much for the water budget. About as helpful as your suggestion to go back in time.
OH, and another reason I would not vote for Christina is in the title of this piece of journalism. What she meant to say was, “our citizens are our customers” since “the customer” is always right. Perhaps she intended to say consumer because she does not believe that customers (we citizens) are always right?
Hi Speaker,
Christina informed me that the title was meant to be “The citizens are our customers.” That was a mistake on my part. My apologies.
-Ed
Thanks for manning up and admitting to the error.