Customers Should Have Vote On Sewer Increase

The Ross Valley Sanitary District board should put the proposed sewer rate increase to a ballot measure vote to allow all paying customers for sewer services to participate in the public process. The district's current process is unfair because the large number of residents living in rental units were excluded from the process of allowing protests to the proposed rate increase.

It is public information that rental units are currently proposed to be charged the same sewer fee ($923 in Larkspur) as the fee charged for large estate homes. This unfair condition must be corrected before any new sewer rate increased is considered.

At the upcoming July 20 rate increase hearing, the Ross Valley Sanitary District Board should do the right thing by postponing action on any rate increase until:

1. Sewer fees charged to small rental units are changed to be in proper proportion to fees charged owners of large dwelling units.

2. A ballot measure including any rate increase can be put to a vote of ALL district customers, including those living in rental units.

An adjusted sewer rate should be proposed that is based on use of services and presented with public information to make it easy for customers to understand how the rate is developed, especially with any proposal to raise current rates.

All residents are sewer service customers and residents living in rental units make up a very large percentage of the 30,000 registered voters in the Ross Valley.

For example, in Larkspur, roughly 50% of voters live in rental units. Therefore in Larkspur, 50% of paying sewer customers had no say on a 60% rate increase to $923 per year under the district's process.  This is extremely unfair.

The only remedy to this unfairness is to demand that the proposed rate increase be put on the ballot as a measure for an upcoming election, giving all customers a fair vote.

If the principle of providing all paying customers in the sewer district equal participation in the public process is not enough to convince the Ross Valley sewer board to propose a ballot measure for the proposed rate increase, then the 3,200-plus signed protest letters should be seen as more than enough signatures (over 10% of district voters)  to qualify a ballot measure against the increase, if gathered on a petition to do so.

If the sewer district board of directors does not act to put any proposed rate increase to a public vote, the opportunity exists for all sewer district customers to gather signatures on petitions and qualify a ballot measure against the increase, without district board participation.

For sewer customers living in rental units, this turnabout is fair given the fact that the sewer district gave them no say in the district's "public" process and raising rates 60%.

To pass a ballot measure on a proposed sewer rate increase, the measure would need fewer than 5,000 voters, including customers living in rental units, added with 3200 voting current protesters to stop any proposed rate increase and possibly recall individual board members.

The Ross Valley Sanitary District Board members should acknowledge this information as they consider action at the upcoming July 20 rate increase hearing.

Respectfully,

Dan Hillmer