Customers start petition over Soquel Creek Water District rate increase

To pay for infrastructure and projects to help mitigate seawater intrusion, the Soquel Creek Water District recently passed a rate increase for the coming years.

General Manager, Ron Duncan, said the increase is needed now before intrusion gets worse, in turn making payments even higher.

“A study done by UCSC said if we don’t get a project people will have to cut back and use less water and it will cost three times as much,” said Duncan.

The increase that was approved over a year long process by a committee of community members, is 9% yearly for the next five years.

The district determines how much each household pays based off of a two tier system.

If a household uses less than 4,500 gallons of water per month, they will pay one cent per gallon.

But If you use more, you pay four cents per gallon, no matter the family size. Duncan said about 70% of households use approximately 4,500 gallons per months, which is considered sustainable usage.

Soquel Creek Water District customer Kris Kirby said that’s where one of the problems lies. She thinks having just a two tier system is unfair for the larger families living on fixed income.

“It should be more like a four tier I think just to not penalize people so fast and so high,” said Kirby.

Kirby and her family have been living in Aptos for more than 20 years, and she said they have always tried to conserve water, but the past few moths their rates have skyrocketed.

“When we moved here 22 years ago with a family of six our water rates were about 30, $35 a month every other month we paid them and now it’s anywhere up to $250 a month,” said Kirby.

And for bigger families she said it’s even worse.

“A friend of mine’s wife is dealing with chemo, so their daughter and four kids just moved in, so his bill he said was almost $600 a month.”

One resident, who was on the committee to help determine the rate increase said the increase is necessary.

“If we don’t pay more for water we won’t have any, that’s not a good thing at least in my experience,” said John Dickinson.

Duncan also said their rates at Soquel Creek Water District are a little below average compared to others on the Central Coast.

Duncan added if the district gets more grants, that money will be applied to the needs and that 9% rate ceiling could come down.

The project the district is closest to moving forward with is a recycled water plant which would purify used water.

Kirby said that’s also something she doesn’t want to see and would rather the district partner with another district for water usage.

Duncan said they are keeping all options open at this time.

The Soquel Creek Water District said they also provide free home consultations where someone will come out to install high efficiency shower heads, aerators and check your irrigation timer settings.

For more information on the district click here.

For more information on the petition click here.