Simi Residents’ Sewer Bills to Increase 60%

Monthly sewer bills for Simi Valley residents will increase 60% starting next month, city officials said.

Beginning in September, about 26,000 households will pay $9.56 per month for sewer hookups, up from the present rate of $5.94. The monthly rate may increase to about $12 by 1995, officials said.

Members of the Simi Valley City Council, who unanimously approved the increase Monday, said they were forced to raise rates under the conditions of a $7-million grant from the state and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The grant, given to the Simi Valley County Sanitation District in 1977, was used to expand the capacity of the city’s waste treatment plant from 7.5 million gallons per day to its present daily level of 9.1 million gallons. Construction was completed in 1984.

The terms of the grant were that the costs of operating the sanitation district had to be passed on to customers, not paid for out of property tax revenues, said Michael Kleinbrodt, deputy public works director. However, the sanitation district has used property taxes for the past 10 years to help pay for the district’s operating costs because it mistakenly believed that changes in federal laws were retroactive and applied to the 1977 grant, Kleinbrodt said.

A routine audit of the grant last year revealed the problem, and city officials were told to either stop using property tax revenues or to repay the $7-million grant. The district is not required to repay the property tax revenues it used in past years, Kleinbrodt said.