Anonymous
Source: City of Santa Barbara
The City will not be moving forward with a planned water rate increase in the current fiscal year. Recent updates to the water system infrastructure plan have reduced the burden on water rates and made it possible to provide relief to the community at this critical time. Rate increases will, however, resume July 2021 to ensure that the Water Fund is able to meet all of its financial obligations.
City Council Agenda Report
Staff is recommending that the City forgo an anticipated three percent water rate increase budgeted for in Fiscal Year 2021 (FY 2021). This has been made possible by recent adjustments to the Water Fund’s capital improvement plan in the FY 2021 Budget, which is described in detail in this report. Although the COVID-19 pandemic continues to present financial challenges, staff is confident that the Water Fund will be able to absorb any financial impacts from forgoing a rate increase while continuing to provide a high level of service to the community.
“People” (residential) make up a ridiculously small percentage of water use. What really needs rate hikes are commercial properties (ahem, Montecito hotels and golf courses) and industry. Google water use in California to see the numbers – they are staggering. Even water boards have admitted in recent years that the focus is on the WRONG sector. Follow the numbers…
Pit, city staff count only goes up, not down, even when the initial need for that staff goes away.
I think water SHOULD be very costly. As a society here locally we’re not valuing it nearly enough. When I see people wasting it I think rates are too low. Same with gas.
It’s the biggest bill I have. I do everything I can to conserve, and it just goes up and up. If the City has to do layoffs, would that make the bill go down? Or are they stuck with a minimum number of staff that keep making more and more each year? Has the City tried to negotiate with the Unions to defer raises or anything like that? If so, I haven’t heard of it.
When the City approved the desal plant, they said rates would not increase.
Rates went up.
We apparently have enough water that City sold water to Montecito for millions.
Our rates are going up.
We pay more per unit than Montecito.
Perhaps we should waste more water in lawns and golf courses and our rates will go down?
CA is an arid state. Environmentalists should be up in arms with all the water use and farming that changes the environment. This is not “natural”
But then again its not “convenient” to care about nature and what was intended use by nature all the time. So who picks and chooses what environmental issues are pertinent?
There’s plenty of farming in the rest of the US that we do t need to use precious water here.
SB: “So who picks and chooses what environmental issues are pertinent?” unfortunately our elected political officials. They can be trusted to pick issues that create great taglines to go with their next campaign with no regard for the short and long term consequences because they would have moved on by then. Do you think any of our elected officials will propose limiting the number 1 water user in our arid county/state: agriculture? No, they wouldn’t get reelected or elected to begin with. Look up how much water it takes to make a bottle of wine or grown an avocado. Almond milk? If you drink almond milk from CA sourced almonds while driving a Prius thinking you’re doing your part to save our environment, you’re suffering from the same delusions as our politicians.
Grow food in areas that aren’t an arid desert, if food are grown there then select water wise foods and adopt efficient irrigation practices. Current CA water rights laws do not encourage the efficient use of water in agriculture. It’s mostly a use it or loose it situation (kind of like how our government runs their budgets, no reason for them to be efficient).