Coachella Valley Water District approves higher rates

Rates for Coachella Valley Water District customers are going up despite opposition by many.
Tuesday the district held a public hearing for community members to express their concerns and ultimately make a decision.
More than 40 people got up to speak during the public comment.
The overall sentiment was that they’re not pleased with the decisions the district is making.
After listening for nearly four hours of comment, the board voted to postpone fixed rate increases until October 1.
“What option D does is, first of all, it brings in a rate increase that’s lower than the (one) recommended by our consultant. The total revenue for a year is about $4.2 million less to the district,” President John Powell said.
But tiered rates will increase July 1.
For example, if you’re in Tier 3 “inefficient” your rate goes up from $1.68 to $2.46.
Board president John Powell said he’s listening to customers and sees their side of things.
“I don’t think the fixed rates in Option D are low enough. So we’re going to come back in September look at some of the real data we have with those extra months, and see how revenues are, and if we can roll back that proposed increase, I’m certainly interested in doing that,” Powell said.

Among those hit hardest by the fixed rate increase are homeowners associations and their residents.
“Well, we have two meters in each circle and they’re the 2-inch kind and they’re normally $17. So 17 times four. Now they’re going to be $100 and something,” said Virginia Tillmannshoofer.
She said her homeowners association hopes CVWD will seriously reconsider before October 1.
As it stands homeowners associations with 1-inch meters will increase from $9.10 to $38.28.
CVWD said they haven’t increased rates in six years and need to for a number of reasons, mainly because of the state’s chromium 6 mandates.
“The state is requiring us to bring the water down to the naturally occurring chromium 6 for all of our domestic water. That requires a major project have to build the facility to make sure they comply,” Powell said.
They also said they need to make up for lost revenue because of drought conservation and to fund a number of projects.
Here’s the chart of all the rate increases in each catagory.