Published on May 28, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 28, 2019

CONTACT: Barry Dugan, Principal Programs Specialist: 707-547-1930, 707-331-2040, barry.dugan@scwa.ca.gov

Santa Rosa, CA – The Sonoma County Water Agency (Sonoma Water) Board of Directors (Board) last Tuesday approved a set of rate adjustments for the eight sanitation districts and zones that provide sewer service to more than 18,000 properties throughout the county.  The rate increases will pay for ongoing maintenance and operations and be used to fund $50 million in improvements to the sewer collection and treatment systems over the next three years.

Sonoma Water staff explained to the Board that operations and maintenance costs are increased to keep pace with the cost of living, and increases beyond that are used to pay for capital improvements, such as new equipment and replacement of sewer mains. In the next year, there are sewer main projects planned for the Airport/Larkfield/Wikiup Sanitation Zone and the Sonoma Valley County Sanitation District, new aerators planned for Geyserville, a flood resiliency project for Penngrove, a headworks and lift station project at Russian River, and collection systems replacement at South Park.

Sewer rates increases for the districts and zones averaged 4.4% overall. Rate increases for the eight systems operated by Sonoma Water have averaged less than 5% per year since 2011.

The following rates were approved at the Board’s May 21, 2019 meeting:

Approval of the rate increases is governed by Prop. 218, a statewide voter approved initiative that gives ratepayers the ability to protest rate increases, and if a sufficient number of protests are received (more than 50% of property owners) the rate increase is not adopted.  Prop. 218 notices and protest forms were mailed to all sanitation district and zone property owners 45 days in advance of the May 21 hearing. Of the 18,124 Prop. 218 notices that were mailed, Sonoma Water received 217 protests, an overall 1.2% protest rate.

In addition to revenues from service fees and connection fees, the Districts and Zones also rely on grants and loans, and in some cases transfers from Sonoma Water’s General Fund, to pay for operations and capital projects.

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