Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Water Rate Increase Protest Letter
Water Rate Increase Protest Letter
voters approved Proposition 218, which states that the fees charged
for utility service must reflect the actual cost of providing service;
however water service fees were exempt. In 2006, a court ruling
established that water service may not be exempt from this
requirement. In other words, fees on the Water Department
cannot be used to generate revenue. The fees must be directly
related to the costs for allowing pipelines and sewers in the city.
4. Conveniently, the City of Long Beach transferred responsibility for
sewers to the Water Department from the City Public Works
Department. Had this not happened, the City would have been unable
to assess a fee on itself but now can assess on an "independent"
department.
5. In 2012, the residents of the City of Fullerton sued their city for
assessing a "in lieu of franchise" fee on water rates. In Fullerton's case,
the fee was tacked directly on to the utility bill. Long Beach tacks the
fees onto the Water Department's budget which in turn then passes it
along to the ratepayer. This is not as transparent as Fullerton which is
most likely why we have not had a ratepayer rebellion in this town.
6. When Fullerton was sued (and has since stopped the fee and settled
the case), the City was forced to provide an analysis of the actual costs
to the City for allowing its own Water Department to operate. The
"costs" no where came close to the fees the city hauled in and that is
why they had to return money. Nor was Fullerton complying with
8. This is the third year in a row that the Long Beach Water Department
Board of Commissioners has recommended rate increases, while it has
sat silent about the City of Long Beach transferring millions of dollars in
water department revenue into its General Fund. The Long Beach
Board of Commissioners has not met its fiduciary duty to its ratepayers
because it has failed to challenge the City's assessment or to demand
an accounting of how the assessment is spent by the City of Long
Beach. By not doing so, the Board of Water Commissioners has
subjected its ratepayers to increases and increases in the 5% utility
users tax which is assessed on the amount of water use billed. So the
City gets two bites of the revenue stream: pipeline fees and increased
utility taxes at the expense of ratepayers.
Sincerely,
Gerrie Schipske
Gerrie Schipske