Redwood City increases water rates by 12%

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

After putting off water rate increases for five years, Redwood City approved a 12% increase for the city's roughly 21,000 customers despite 60 residents who protested the plan.

The city's supplier, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, has increased rates by around 27% for the last two years because the SFPUC has raised debt and personnel costs and needs infrastructure upgrades. According to a staff report, the city has been using its reserve fund to pay the difference, but that fund is forecasted to dissolve by 2026 unless the city adjusts its rates.

The City Council approved the rate increase 6-0-1, with Vice Mayor Lissette Espinoza-Garnica absent from the meeting. While the city received 60 protests, it would have taken more than 10,000 protests for the residents to block the council’s vote under Proposition 218.

Council member Chris Sturken acknowledged the 27% increase by the SFPUC.

"They have higher debt, personnel, and infrastructure costs, and it's out of our control," Sturken said.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, some residents wrote to the council to express their disappointment with the city's decision to increase rates, which happened only a week after the city discussed adding property sales tax or increasing the business license fee that multiple residents mentioned. One of those residents, Chris Robell, said the fixed water rate reflects a 39% increase in the bi-monthly rate from $59.04 to $82.09.

"I don't think residents are supposed to be ATM machines with no withdrawal limits," Chris Robell said.

The city's costs for supplies, equipment, utilities, and employees are projected to increase by 3% annually. According to the report, the town also has capital improvement projects that fund upgrades to the aging infrastructure, such as water mains and tanks, which cost around $13.2 million per year.

The city has three types of customers: commercial, single-family residential, and multi-family residential. The customers are all charged in two ways: a fixed service charge based on the number of dwelling units or the water meter size. The second charge is for water usage, based on how much water the customer uses.

Currently, single-family and multi-family residences have a service charge of $59.04 based on the number of dwelling units served by a water meter. The new bi-monthly charges would increase to $76.72 for the fiscal year 2023-24; the following year, it would increase to $82.09 for single-family homes. For multi-family dwelling units, the serve meter could range from $76.72 at the lowest to $476.88 at the highest in fiscal year 2023-24, with an increase the following year, according to the report.

The second charge is a four-tiered system that increases rates as usage increases. Currently, for single-family residences, the range starts at $6.13 per hundred cubic feet (HCF) and steadily increases to its most expensive tier at $13.45 HCF. One HCF is equivalent to 728 gallons, according to the report.

Commercial customers, most of which pay the ⅝" meter size, are charged $29.52 monthly per meter. The new charge for a ⅝" meter size will be $38.36 monthly per meter for the fiscal year 2023-24, and the following year will increase to $41.05 per month, according to the report.

The current average water bill is $76.09, the sixth lowest in the county. The new rate is projected to make the average bill jump to $85.35, the county median charge, according to the report.

Council member Diane Howard said she wants people to know that if they had increased rates during COVID-19, it would have been a hardship for everyone.

"I am hoping, as we go, we can answer customers' questions, that we can help those we can help," Howard said.

The city offers a Utility Rate Assistance Program to help customers with water, sewer, and solid waste bills for households meeting 50% of the San Mateo County median income. The program is funded from penalties, not ratepayers. It currently offers those customers a flat rate of $20 a month or $40 bi-weekly. However, the rate will be increased by 25%, meaning those customers will pay $25 per month or $50 bi-monthly.

Visit www.redwoodcity.org/urap for more information.

Residents can continue conserving water to offset the increased costs of their water bill, Sturken said.

"Of the 226 households that are enrolled in the utility rate assistance program, there is still room for it to grow and help qualified families offset the cost of the rate increase," Sturken said.

Mayor Jeff Gee said if the city has to issue bonds, it would be nearly double to the ratepayers by the time the city would pay off the financing.

"I'd rather smooth it out the best we can so we pay as we go, avoid financing," Gee said.