GLENDALE : City Weighs 7.7% Hike in Water Rate

Water rates could rise 7.7% under a plan being considered by the Glendale City Council to offset an expected hike in water prices and to pay for two expensive projects aimed at decreasing the city’s reliance on outside water sources.

City officials said the rate increase, which would amount to about $3.01 per month for the average household, would take effect this summer if approved by the council in the city’s 1995-96 budget.

The move would raise an additional $1 million a year to pay for the city’s share of a federal Superfund program to build a filtration system that will clean up contaminated wells along San Fernando Road, and for expansion of the city’s reclaimed water pipeline program. In addition, it would raise about $800,000 to help offset price hikes expected to be enforced this year by the Metropolitan Water District, Glendale’s major supplier.

“MWD is going to increase their rates for sure. . . . And the Superfund program is going to cost the city $1 million this coming fiscal year, which is mandated. We have no choice in these matters,” said Lyn Zamboni, a senior engineer in the city’s water department.

The $16-million reclaimed water program includes construction of a pipeline network that reuses treated sewage water for irrigation at several local parks and for freeway landscaping. City leaders are committed to the program, saying it will help reduce Glendale’s usage of expensive MWD water.

The city water department has been borrowing money interest-free in recent years from the electric department to pay for the construction. But in the coming fiscal year, payments on the loan will become due, City Manager David Ramsay said.

“The water company could have gone out on the open market to finance this expensive project, but it was felt it would be better to finance it from inside,” Ramsay said. “But now with the deregulation of the electric industry, the electric company just cannot afford to be giving interest-free loans any more.”

The council is expected to debate the rate increases during budget deliberations in the coming weeks. A decision on the matter must be reached before the end of June, when the budget must be adopted, Ramsay said.