Healdsburg may see water rate increases for the first time in years

Healdsburg residents may see their water rates go up this year for the first time in a while.

The city has commissioned an outside consultant – Sacramento-based water financial management firm The Reed Group Inc. – to help determine whether rate increases are in order for the upcoming fiscal year (which begins July 1), according to Healdsburg Public Works Director Mike Kirn. City water officials will use the consultant's findings to help determine what rate levels to recommend to the City Council, which has a final say on the matter.

Kirn said it is likely his department will suggest a rate increase to the council.

“I would expect the recommendation would be for rates to increase, but whether or not the council approves that I can't say,” he said.

City water rates have not changed since 2006, according to Kirn. Since that time, residents receiving their water through a 1” diameter pipe (which Kirn said is an average size) have been charged a flat monthly rate of $32.40 for their first 3,740 gallons; residents who use more than that amount per month are charged an extra $2.88 for every 748-gallon block, Kirn said.

In other words, any amount over the 3,740 gallon threshold is an extra $2.88. Any amount thereafter that exceeds 748 gallons is an additional $2.88, and then another $2.88 if a user exceeds another block of 748 gallons a month, and so on.

In 2004, the city instituted a water rate of $29.63 for the first 3,740 gallons, and $2.64 as the add-on rate for heavy water users. The city also imposed a small quarterly rate increase that affected prices from 2004 until 2006, when the rates were capped, according to Kirn.

Kirn said a 2 to 3 percent annual increases in water rates is typical in California municipalities, adding that Healdsburg's unvarying rate over the past four years is an anomaly that's unlikely to hold up.

“They haven't adjusted our rates for years,” he said. “A big reason rates go up is just inflation over time.

"The price of electricity, the cost of chemicals, of labor and environmental compliance have all gone up," Kirn added. "And so water rates tend to go up along with it.”

Healdsburg is unusual among Sonoma County municipalities for controlling its own water distribution – most of the county's other districts receive water from the Sonoma County Water Agency. Like the SCWA, Healdsburg draws most of its water from the Russian River – about 95 percent, according to Kirn.

According to SCWA Public Information Officer Brad Sherwood, the SCWA has increased the water rates of contract districts by an average of about 5 percent a year over the past 15 years.

The agency is recommending a 5 percent increase this year for most of the county's water districts to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, which will vote on the new rates in April.