With $15 million in needed sewer system upgrades, Grover Beach is inching toward another sewer rate increase despite Measure G-24‘s passage, which recalled the city’s 2023 attempt.
“Sewer rate revenue alone is insufficient to fund these improvements. Upgrades should be done soon to avoid impacts such as overflows,” Public Works Director Greg Ray told the City Council on Feb. 24. “With 2021 sewer rates in place plus a single 2 percent increase that is supposed to take place, … by 2029, the sewer reserve account will fall below the recommended capacity.”
That doesn’t include funding any of the capital improvements that are needed, which would replace some of the city’s older sewer lines that are at or over capacity. The sewer reserve should have enough money it in to pay for up to six months of maintenance and operations as well as an additional $500,000 that could fund emergency repairs such as sewer main ruptures, Ray said. Falling below that amount will impact the system’s “fiscal solvency.”
He told the council that sewer mains should operate at between 50 and 70 percent capacity. Any less than that can make the flow rates too slow and any more than that can cause issues such as odor, clogged and backed-up lines, and even overflow into the streets.
Grover Beach has some sewer lines that are operating at 80 to 89 percent capacity, he said. With new development that’s in progress, “they will go over 100 percent,” he added.
“We’ve got to catch those ones first,” Ray said. “The primary driver is trying to avoid sewer backups.”
To do that, staff is planning to present a new sewer rate study and structure at the March 24 meeting, Ray said, where they will also discuss when to start a formal Proposition 218 rate protest process. Members of the citizen group Grover H20 took issue with the rollout of that protest process for the water and wastewater rate increases passed in 2023, which, in part, led to the Measure G-24 rate repeal passed by 64 percent of the city’s voters in November 2024.
Members of that group spoke during public comment on the issue, including Brenda Auer, who said that the sewer system’s problem is wasteful spending and mistakes—not the rate repeal measure. That spending includes funding Central Coast Blue, she added. Grover Beach was once a part of the effort to implement a water recycling project to supplement water supplies for the Five Cities, but it pulled out of the project alongside Arroyo Grande last year.
“Stop trying to raise our rates,” Auer said. “Don’t make us go back with the signs again.”
Mayor Kassi Dee asked city staff about that funding after public comment.
“No wastewater funds were used for the city’s share of Central Coast Blue costs. Those were simply water use funds that were expended,” City Manager Matt Bronson said. “So that’s not part of this analysis.”
Dee asked several more clarifying questions based on other claims made during public comment, including whether the city waived developer and impact fees for hotel projects. The city doesn’t have the ability to waive those, Bronson said. But it can defer them until a development is occupied and open, at which time the full amount is due to the city.
“The reason I’m doing this is to just to show transparency,” Dee said.
She also said she wanted to make sure the city was doing community outreach in advance of the potential upcoming rate increase and education about why it was needed. Bronson said that there were plenty of opportunities for that kind of work, including the upcoming March 24 City Council meeting where everything will be discussed and the Coffee with Council event on Feb. 27.
While Bronson said Grover Beach was trying to get the rate increases passed in time for the fiscal year that starts in July, City Councilmember Clint Weirick cautioned against moving too fast on a rate increase and the Proposition 218 process.
“Take this one step at a time,” Weirick said. Δ
This article appears in Weddings 2025.