After a two-year reprieve during the COVID-19 pandemic, Colusa’s previously scheduled sewer rate increase is set to kick in Sept. 1.
The City Council on Aug. 2 approved the 9 percent increase, which would have been implemented in 2020.
The city waived the 6 percent increase scheduled in 2021 because local employment was not back to pre-pandemic levels, officials said.
City Manager Jesse Cain said that if the city had maintained the rate schedule adopted by the citizens of Colusa and the city council in 2018, sewer rates in 2022 would currently be 15 percent higher, with another 3 percent set to go into effect next year.
“This increase will put our rates at what it should have been in 2020,” Cain said. “Because of COVID, we did not raise the rates at all.”
By returning to the previously approved rate structure, officials said the city will be better able to meet the cost of services, which has escalated in the past year from inflation, plus show the state the system is sustainable when they apply for multi-million dollar grants to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant.
“We don’t want to get passed up because we kicked the can down the road,” Mayor Thomas Reische said.
Several community members spoke about their concerns the increase would largely affect those most vulnerable in today’s economy.
“People can’t afford to continue to pay these increases,” said landlord John Rogers, who said he becomes the “bad guy” when he passes the increase to his tenants. “And then (the City Council) is going to come to us later on in the year and ask for a 1 percent sales tax increase. When is it going to stop, folks? You have to live within your means.”
Julie Garofalo suggested the city reverse the order of the planned increases, starting with 3 percent this year, followed by 6 percent in 2023, and finally 9 percent in 2024.
“It still shows forward progress to the state that we’re increasing our rates – and it also doesn’t impact our residents as much, especially with the current economy,” Garofalo said.
However, Colusa officials said after two years with no increase, the city can no longer stave off the rate hike because of the high cost for materials and utilities, which has essentially doubled.
Finance Director Ishrat Aziz-Khan said the 9 percent increase was already included in the 2022-2023 budget, which still shows expenditures continued to outpace revenue.
“If you look at 2019 and 2020 actual numbers, we were negative at that time by $315,000…,” Khan said. “We need to do something with this fund to pay our loans and pay our operational costs.”
Colusa officials said that unlike during the pandemic, the city can no longer siphon money from reserves to cover a deficit because the state requires water and sewer to be sustainable enterprises.
The sewer rate increase set for Sept. 1 will cost most residents about $7 more each month, which officials said was better than waiting until they have to double rates again down the road. ■