Recall To Target Trabuco Canyon Water Board After Huge Rate Increases
Your Help Needed to Stop $300+ Monthly Water Bills!
»TRABUCO WATER BOARD DOUBLES AND TRIPLES WATER BILLS WITH EVEN MORE INCREASES TO COME
TCWD RATE HIKERS, left to right: Glenn Acosta, Don Chadd, Stephen Dopudja, Edward Mandich, Michael Safranski
Trabuco Canyon residents are launching a recall of the five-member Trabuco Canyon Water District board of directors after the board approved a 5-year plan to immediately double or triple residents’ monthly “fixed meter charges,” and raise them 400 to 500 percent by July 2027. In addition, large yearly increases in sewer service and per-gallon water consumption will push the average monthly bill to $287, according to a public notice mailed to the 4,100 customers in the District. On top of the published increases, the district may “pass through” any increases in the wholesale price of water purchased by the district.
»MASSIVE OPPOSITION, BUT BOARD APPROVES ANYWAY
The unanimous vote came after a standing-room-only public hearing on June 29 at which speaker after speaker pleaded with board members not to approve the huge rate increases. The pastor of the Trabuco Canyon Community Church, Robert Jacobsen, told the board that many church members on fixed incomes, already hammered by skyrocketing prices for insurance, fuel, food and electricity, could not afford the ballooning water bills and may have to move away.
But board members appeared to have made up their minds before the public hearing, which was a legal prerequisite to the rate increases, after which they joined with district general manager, Fernando Paludi, in lecturing the audience for over an hour on why they were wrong to oppose the rate hikes. They then voted unanimously to approve them.
» HUGE “METER TAX” EVEN IF NO WATER USED
In addition to water usage charges, district residents pay a fixed amount each month, the “fixed meter charge,” regardless of how much water they use. This charge is based solely on meter size, and was doubled or tripled by the board for the coming year, with 400 to 500 percent hikes coming over the next five years. Customers whose houses happened to be built with a one-inch water meter, for example, saw their monthly fixed meter charge jump from $30.70 in June to $94.93 in July, and headed up to $159.96 in 2027. One Trabuco resident complained to board members that despite using very little water, he now must pay $271 each month—six times as much as neighbors with 3/4-inch meters who actually use more water—simply because his house was built with a 2-inch water meter. Under the California Constitution (Proposition 218), the fixed meter charge must not exceed the district’s actual cost of the service provided to the parcel. Board members claimed that the larger water meter could hypothetically draw more water from the system and thereby place a proportionately greater burden on it, an excuse that may be at odds with a recent appellate court decision.
Since they comprise the largest part of most customers’ water bills, the fixed meter charges provide little incentive to conserve water, in seeming contradiction to the district’s frequent admonitions to do so.
»RATE STUDY: CUSTOMERS PICK UP THE TAB FOR BOARD FRINGE BENEFITS AND WEEKEND JUNKETS
As justification for the large increases, the board pointed to a rate study it had commissioned . The study did not consider any alternatives to the huge rate hikes, or the impact on its customers’ ability to pay the increases.
According to the study, the increases will pay for capital improvement projects, a $9.1 million reserve, and employee raises of 5% and benefits increases of 7% each year for the next five years. Several speakers asked the board why only the rate payers, and not the district, are being asked to tighten their belts. They cited board members’ large reported full-time benefit packages for the part-time duties they perform as elected officials, charged to the rate payers along with weekend trips with spouses to water conventions, and large hotel and car rental expenses.
»NEIGHBORING WATER DISTRICTS HAVE LOWER RATES
Several speakers asked the board why the rates in neighboring water districts—Santa Margarita and Irvine Ranch—were much lower.
According to the district’s rate study, the TCWD buys its water from these neighboring districts. “So why not,” asked one speaker, “eliminate the middle man and unnecessary duplication by merging with another district?”
»BOARD RECALL LAUNCHED—YOUR HELP NEEDED!
Shocked by the sudden large increases in their water bills and angered by their elected representatives dismissing their concerns, several in the audience called for recalling the five board members from office. The recall process, as outlined in the California Constitution and the Elections Code, begins with the collection of at least 30 signatures of registered voters on a “notice of intention to circulate a recall petition,” to be served on each board member and subsequently published in a newspaper. Recall proponents have collected the required signatures, and are now preparing to take the next step by raising the funds needed for newspaper publication. Readers can help by clicking here.
Although initially elected or appointed to 4-year terms, the current TCWD board members have remained in office for from 7 to 29 years, their terms automatically renewed when no challengers came forward at election time. The terms of two existing members end in November 2024, leaving three existing members in office until the November 2026 elections, unless they are recalled.
The next scheduled meeting of the Trabuco Canyon Water District board will be on Thursday, September 21 at 5:30 p.m. at the water district offices in Dove Canyon.
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