On April 16, SLVWD voted to raise the rates on bulk (surplus) water. The SLVWD agenda stated that there are “approximately 20 active surplus water users, of which, about 35-percent are higher usage and 8 have addresses on file that are out of our District.” The proposal was made to increase the rate from $31 to $103; in addition to ‘consumption’ charge of $10 for each unit of water (748 gallons) delivered. It was stated that “the intent of the change in Bulk Water rates is to discourage usage outside District Boundaries, encourage conservation and balance Bulk Water Rates more equitably with fixed meter rates and charges.”
After much discussion by the Board of Directors, Director Baughman suggested going ahead with the increase and revisiting the issue later. Director Brown agreed. Director Hammer recommended that they “monitor who is buying and using SLVWD water.” President Bruce suggested that “staff bring this back to the Board with a quarterly report in three months comparing current information to information from one year ago.”
In July, the next time that Boulder Creek resident, Daniel Burke, purchased bulk water; he discovered that his bill had increased “from $49 every two months to $172 for approximately the same amount of time from one time till to the next.” Burke is retired and has lived off of Harmon Gulch Road for over ten years. He said “I am not a commercial water user. I am not a water seller. I am not a water deliverer. I am not an agricultural grower by any means. We simply use water for drinking and for household use. And, we want to pay our fair share.”
Burke is hoping that when SLVWD revisits the surplus water issue again that it will be “perhaps from a more human-impact angle and not strictly from a financial angle.” No one wants the kind of surprise that Burke received the last time he bought water, even when they “want to pay their fair share.”
For more information see:
http://www.slvwd.com/agendas/Full/2015/4-16-2015/4-16-2015.htm
http://www.slvwd.com/agendas/minutes/2015/Minutes%20BoD4.16.15-%20approved.pdf
