City Beat June 2022

By Don Reynolds, City Manager
As published in the June issue of the Mission Village Voice

As May ends and June begins, the City is wrapping up its fiscal year with a lot of public engagement. In May, we celebrated our diverse interests in planning for the City’s growth and economic future. The week of May 2-6 was busy, culminating in a Special City Council meeting May 5. We tried again to host a “hybrid meeting” combining web conferencing with in-person attendance, but the Council Chambers is so small. As we launch budget town hall meetings and water rate study sessions in the next 3-6 weeks, we will try to hold these meetings in the Library.

In March, we signed a $50,000 contract to have the technology updated and have been waiting patiently to get our Council Chambers up to speed. The installation of new microphones, cameras and IT has been pushed from May 23 to May 30, 2022. Yes, COVID is on the rise again, and it continues to plague the logistics of these matters.

The May 17 City Council meeting was scheduled to reveal a new drinking water study and proposed new rates. This has been pushed to May 24, and by the time this article is published, I am sure a lot of you would like more details. Assuming the public notice requirements start by Friday, May 27, 2022, the rates hearing would occur in June and end July 19, 2022.

The rate study from the May 21, 2022 is being published on the City Website and will be the focus of the public engagement meeting scheduled in the next 4 weeks. The rate increase does three things: 1) it pays for the capital improvements needed to import drinking water from the West Hills Treatment Plant, that will be blended at 2/3 surface water with 1/3 ground water; 2) it pays for the San Benito County Water District’s cost to buy the water from the federal government (San Luis Reservoir), and 3) it pays for the 8% of the overhead and administrative costs associated with joining this regional water solution. The City’s fair share of these costs is estimated at 8% based on the General Plan build-out and growth of 1.9% through 2040.

Between now and 2027, the rates and cost of water and sewer will grow 65% from approximately $200 per month to $335 per month. Water rates are based on 2 metrics-the base rates applicable to every customer and the use/1000 gallons referred to as the volumetric rates.

The Base Rates increases look like this:

Volumetric Rates (Cost per 1,000 gallons) look like this:

This Effort completes the job of upgrading water and the quality of life as we know it in San Juan Bautista. Please look for public meetings on this matter to begin in May and include June 14 and June 28, when I hope we will be back in Council Chambers! Feels free to give me a call of make an appointment.