Grover Beach is looking to raise water and wastewater rates almost 20 percent beginning in 2024 to help fund infrastructure improvements and Central Coast Blue project costs.
Matthew Bronson, Grover Beach’s city manager, said that a recent rate study looked at the needs in the city’s water and wastewater system, what the operating costs were, and how much reserves the city had on hand.
“We did our rate study in the summer and it indicated that our current revenue from our water and wastewater system did not suffice for what our future needs were for infrastructure and ensuring adequate water supply,” Bronson said.
The city’s water and wastewater rate study recommends an annual rate increase of 19.7 percent for the first four years beginning in January 2024 and then another 4 percent in the fifth year.
On Sept. 25, the Grover Beach City Council voted 4-1 to set a Proposition 218 hearing on Nov. 13 for the proposed increase in water and wastewater rates. If 50 percent of affected residents submit a written protest to the proposal prior to that hearing, the increases can’t be adopted and the city will need to start the process over again.
Currently, Grover Beach has the lowest water rates and third lowest wastewater rates in the county, according to a staff report. Adopting the increases would raise water rates from being the lowest to third lowest in the county while keeping the city’s wastewater rates ranking the same, the staff report said.
The rise in rates would fund needed infrastructure improvements and the Five Cities Central Coast Blue water resiliency project while supporting debt service obligations, maintaining reserves equal to at least six months of typical maintenance, and operating costs in accordance with industry standards, according to the city staff report.
Bronson said the Central Coast Blue project—which will treat wastewater and inject purified water into the groundwater aquifer—is important because it will provide roughly 1,000 acre-feet of new water for South County communities.
“It will be really beneficial for us in supporting our residents and businesses so that we can ensure sufficient water supply and also help protect our seawater and our groundwater basin from seawater intrusion,” Bronson said. “So the rate studies indicated that we needed higher rates to pay for this.” Δ
This article appears in Autumn Arts Annual 2023.