Putting a Cap on Sewer Service Fees

The proposal by City Council members Laura Chick and Ruth Galanter, sitting as the council’s Environmental Quality and Waste Management Committee, to base sewer service charges on 90% of the average daily water use of each customer in winter months, is commendable and appears to be taking us in the right direction to more equitable allocation of sewer service costs.

But the average reduction of a “whopping� $16 per household per year is hardly worth the effort and an insult to those of us who have been overpaying these exorbitant fees for years while the Wastewater Capital Improvement Program wastes billions of our hard-earned dollars through poor management, bad planning, redesign and excessive capacity.

The initiative ordinance petition to rebate and reduce sewer service charges, which we are currently circulating, is receiving unprecedented support from all segments of our community. It mandates the City Council to rebate $200,000 to the ratepayers and reduce sewer service charges by up to 85% in future years. It also limits future increases and requires independent reviews of the entire sewer project boondoggle.

Those interested in a real solution would be far better off to support this initiative than to try to get credit for proposing insignificant reductions.

FRED WEINHART

Sylmar

Weinhart is co-chairman of the Coalition for Fairness in Water/Sewer Rates.