Here is a little more data to follow up David’s note to support modifications to the rebate program.
A small public committee of the board has looked at analysis of the current scheme and possible modifications.
Since no votes have been taken and no final document has been agreed, I can only say that what follows are my personal views.
Different people have different views on what is equitable for water rate rebates. Percentage reduction of water bill, flat dollars per household, proportional to usage, proportional to size of property, proportional to tax paid, etc?
One potent argument against rebates by LAFCo has been that it might encourage extra usage. However, many studies suggest there is little relationship between price and usage of water.
However, I personally feel that it is reasonable to argue that the benefit should be broadly distributed.
One approach, that I feel is equitable, is to provide a rebate based on usage up to a certain cap. So as to not to be seen encouraging water usage, this cap can be set approximately to the average usage across a year in the district. Thus, all usage up to the average is at a reduced price, after that it is at the Cal Water price.
The graph below shows the effect of this scheme. Rebates are capped at approximately $400 per year.
The total cost to the district, based on these numbers, would be less than $75,000.
So far, there has also been general support for tying these price reductions to each household adopting basic conservation measures, such as low flow showers, small capacity toilets, etc.
David has said that the Board will also consider elimination of the variable component. In this case the rebate would drop to a flat $144 per year. It is not considered feasible to have a flat reimbursement larger than $12 per month, because much above this exceeds some resident’s total bill and distributing checks would create many issues. The total cost to the district would be about $36,000 annually.
To summarize the capped proposal: all “average” water users would see the same price reduction that was established last year. Those using more than average water would be paying the Cal Water rate for additional water.
Richard Swan
