Sewer Taskforce Says Grassroots Campaigning Could Get Rate Hike Passed

The 17-member citizen group charged with informing Rohnert Park residents about why the city needs to increase sewer rates is using a mix of new technology and diehard grassroots campaigning aimed at getting the rate-hike passed by June. 

The group, dubbed the Sewer Fund Stakeholder’s Group, is in the process of putting up a Facebook page, and they’re thinking about setting up a Twitter account — but what’s really going to get the sewer rate hike passed is pounding the pavement, the group said.

It’s the same strategy that got Measure E, the five year half-cent sales tax increase, passed last November.

“Knocking on doors, that’s what’s going to get this passed,” said Susan Adams, a member of the sewer taskforce. “We can’t try to raise it and say nothing, that’s what we did last time and it didn’t work.”

When the City Council in 2008 tried to raise sewer fees, Rohnert Park citizens fought back by getting legislation passed that not only nullified the rate hike, but rolled back rates to 2006 levels. According to city engineers, sewer fees are the lowest in the county, at about $38 a month for a family of four. Petaluma came in at $51 a month, Cotati came in at $65, Santa Rosa at $78 and Penngrove at $88 per month, on average.

The sewer rates have to go up, the group said at a sewer taskforce meeting on Feb. 10. The reserve fund is depleting by $10,000 a day, and it will be gone in about a year. That means what the city pays for upkeep of infrastructure and to the Laguna Treatment Plant in Santa Rosa will have to come out of the city’s general fund — a move that will result in cuts to critical city services.

According to the December 2010 cash report, the sewer fund currently has $4,265,000 in it, and the city of Rohnert Park pays for 16 percent of Santa Rosa's treatment plant capacity. That came to $8.2 million last year paid by the city, said Darrin Jenkins, director of engineering.

Paul Liebu, of Rohnert Park, was one of the people who helped the city get the half-cent sales tax increase passed. He said it worked then, and it could work again for the sewer rate increase.

“I went out into the neighborhoods, door to door, pushed doorbells, and talked to regular voters about why the city needs the funding,” Liebu said. “The majority of people don’t understand how the city’s funding functions, so I would just give them information and let them decide for themselves.”

“It was amazing how many questions I got; sometimes I’d sit for 30-40 minutes talking to people,” Liebu added. 

“The paramount issue is that, last time around, some citizens of our community took great issue with the proposed sewer rate increases and not only killed the proposed increases, but set the rates back to a lower level,” said John Dunn, the interim assistant city manager who's charged with getting the rate increase passed. “If we do what we did before — raise rates — we very well might get the same results, lose in the court of public opinion.”

The public outcry will likely be grave, the group said last Thursday. They called what happened the last time the city raised the rates a volatile environment. That's why the Facebook page will be a closed page, that is only the administrator can post comments, photos or documents.

"It will be a way for us to get information about what’s going on to the public,” said Nick Aronis, a member of the sewer taskforce. 

“We’ve been getting lots of calls from people asking what’s going on with their sewer rates,”  said Sandy Lipitz, the city’s finance director. “They’re saying, ‘our sewer rates are changing?’ ‘What’s going on?’”

The mailer about the urgent need to raise fees just went out last week in ratepayer's water bills, so this issue will likely heat up in the coming months, the taskforce said.

Editor's note: A special City Council meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. tomorrow to present the proposed sewer rates. If the Council agrees with the proposed rate increase, the city on March 8 would initiate Prop. 218 process, and mail notices to residents about what the rate hike is. Residents would then have 45 days to protest by mail or in person. Then, the Council will hold a public hearing to hear any protests, and decides.

. Rohnert Park’s current sewer charges are billed every two months. Currently ratepayers pay a flat rate of $1.08, plus a rate of $7.30 for a single family home, per 1,000 gallons. An average residential home uses between 4,000 and 5,000 per month, estimated Sandy Lipitz, the city’s finance director. That comes to $37.58 per month, on average.