Well our little town did great in saving water this year. We had to save 36% of the water we used compared to 2013. Since our little town has a mix of residential, an orchard, a few farms and a couple Christmas tree farms, our water use per resident is skewed. The orchard and farms use a lot of water BUT the state doesn't factor that in. Per person it looks like all of Paradise is populated by water-using hogs. Not true. Well we were required to save the maximum amount of water any town had to in all of California. We did better than asked. We saved 46% as a town compared to 2013.
What does that get us? Our water rates are going to get jacked up by as a much as a factor of 400% since the fixed costs don't drop when less water is used. There was another problem that showed up. A major water main broke underneath one of the busiest streets in town. There are really only six main streets here. The water main break was under Pearson Street. which had to be dug up, the water main fixed and the street repaved. The entire project took a couple months and made a mess of traffic. The town billed Paradise Irrigation District over $600,000 for that little situation which wasn't discovered for some time. I wonder how much water we would have saved without that water main break? The problem is, though all that water was lost, no revenue was made from it leaving the water main. The water was simply lost AND it added a big cost that we rate payers need to cover.
PID is a quasi-public deal. It isn't part of the town, but it isn't really private either. There are five water districts. Each district has a person on the PID board who must elected. Usually no one runs against those already on the board. It's a "good old boy" situation for sure. These guys vote for everything they want to do including for increases in their pay every year. This year they increased their pay twice. They get Cadillac health insurance and a pension to boot. They make varying incomes depending upon what degrees they hold, between $125,000 and $160,000 for each board member. Around here that is top-notch pay.
PID got themselves in a bit of trouble recently. It turns out there is a law in California (Proposition 218) that doesn't allow a water board to simply dictate rate increases to their customers, which PID was planning on doing, without holding public hearings on the matter. They haven't done that, so there will be a delay in jacking up our water rates for next year. So, PID decided to simply make a $10 per month increase per resident that wasn't an increase in water rates but for "emergency reasons" to pay for projects and their incomes. That's $120 per resident per year which would generate an extra $3,000,000 per year for PID on top of whatever rate increase they will get after holding public forums.
There were folks who showed up to their last meeting all pissed off. They noted that PID keeps increasing their own pay while the rest of us have had stagnant wages for a couple decades. Some said they've had to cut back on expenses themselves and believe PID board members should do the same. The board disagreed stating they need a cost of living increase in their wages every year. Interestingly Social Security will NOT have an increase this next year (only the 3rd time in 40 years) because the cost of gasoline has dropped in the past few months. What that has to do with retired folks seems rather silly since older folks really don't drive around that much. A crap excuse, but it is what it is.
After getting an ear full from some Paradise residents about the $10 per month increase, which is clearly an end around to avoid having to hold public forums regarding a rate increase...which will happen, the board voted against their own idea 4-1. The last time PID increased rates, they sent out a small postcard which most folks simply threw out as it looked like all those postcard-sized ads you get in the mail all the time. One person noted that and told PID that was dirty pool, which PID board members admitted was true. The reason they used this tactic last time is a rate increase, by law, can't happen if 50% of residents say "no." Obviously they want to get stuff like this by people without enough folks noticing.
Well, well, well. Small town politics is so entertaining, ain't it? We shall see what happens to our water rates which will now have to increase by even more than they originally wanted. As it currently stands, our water bill which averages less than $25 per month for water during the hottest months (and another $35 per month for PID to pay it's board members and do what infrastructure projects need doing) was slated to go up to over $100 per month (year-round) just for the water. This is what you get for doing a stellar job of saving water.
What do you want to kibitz about tonight?
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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