San Juan Bautista Wastewater Project Granted $3 Million State Funds Thanks to Senator Caballero and Assemblymember Rivas

On Wednesday June 29th, 2022, the City was informed that its six-mile force-main to the Hollister treatment plant (“Wastewater Project”) was granted $3 million in the State’s budget for Fiscal Year 2022/23. The Governor signed the Budget Bill Thursday June 30th.   The City’s Project was sponsored by Senator Caballero and Assemblymember Rivas.  The Mayor received a call from Senator Caballero, and the City Manager received a similar call from Assemblymember Rivas notifying them of this terrific news on the same day.

Mayor Jordan’s first thought after calling the City Manager was “Wow, I just got a call from Senator Caballero! It is truly amazing how when we all work together, we can get the job done. Hard work pays off!”

All of the City Council and the Mayor extend their deepest appreciation and sincerest gratitude to the Senator and Assemblymember for teaming up to support San Juan Bautista’s efforts to resolve its wastewater system problems for good, by decommissioning its wastewater treatment plant and sending its domestic wastewater to Hollister.

The teamwork needed to make this project successful goes beyond the State’s assistance.  It helps Hollister and San Juan Bautista work together.  Most importantly, the citizens of San Juan Bautista demonstrated that they support this $18 million project by agreeing to a sewer rate increase in December 2021.  The sewer rate calculations anticipated $6 million in grant funding, and now $4 million of the $6 million ($1 million from Jimmy Panetta’s Office in the FY 2022/23 Federal Budget) is locked in.  There is one more promising application from the United States Department of Agriculture on the near horizon.  Without these critical components, this project does not happen. 

Lastly, this project is “shovel ready.” The City is currently navigating a few State and Federal permit applications.  But the project is fully designed and will be out to bid this fall.  The import of surface water (“Water Project”) from the San Benito County Water District’s West Hills Treatment Plant, is scheduled to be “shovel ready” in a year.

Thank you, Senator Caballero and Assemblymember Rivas for caring about San Juan Bautista and working hard to secure these funds that benefit the citizens of the City. 

Thank you to the State of California for supporting this good work.

Project details can be found at this link on the City’s web-site:

https://www.san-juan-bautista.ca.us/alert_detail.php

If you have any questions or concerns about the City’s wastewater project, related import of surface water project, proposed water rate increase, or other related matters, please feel free to Email the City Manager Don Reynolds at citymanager@san-juan-bautista.ca.us , or Call City Hall at (831) 623-4661.  For after-hour emergencies call the public work’s after-hours line at (831) 902-0887.