Laguna Beach Residents Will See 5% Hike In Sewer Bills: Report

LAGUNA BEACH, CA – Local residents can expect to see a slight increase in their sewer bills over the next year after the city council approved a 5 percent hike this week, the Daily Pilot reported on Friday.

The increase will be used to pay for a wastewater system capital improvement program and comes just months after the city council initially approved a 10 percent increase in February following a 1.4 million sewage spill. But according to reports, the council considered other options due to the coronavirus pandemic and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay at home order.

According to the Daily Pilot, the city council has considered keeping the 10 percent increase in place, decreasing the proposed hike to 5 percent or doing away with the increase all together. The increase, which, according to reports, would increase the monthly bill of a single-family home by $3 while the average commercial consumer would see an increase of about $45 per month.

By electing to only raise sewer rates 5 percent, the capital improvement project will be deferred. However, the project may have been put on hold as it was because of design changes. In addition to the money that will be collected from the increase, the city will be forced to dip into its insurance fund and borrow anywhere from $1 million to $1.5 million depending on the fines the city incurred because of the spill, the newspaper reported.

The increase would only be required for one year before the city council would see a longer-term solution in 2021.

“Part of the problem is that the sewer system continues to age like everything else over time and the city has invested millions of dollars and will be putting out information over the coming weeks on how much money the city has spent and what they’ve spent it on,” City Manager John Pietig said Tuesday, according to published reports.