When the region’s water importer said it was hurting for cash, the city of San Diego said: I’ll be your sugar daddy.
That’s basically what happened last week after the San Diego County Water Authority – in charge of getting water from the Colorado River and northern California to San Diego – broke the news to its 22 customer water districts that its prices were going up 39 percent over the next two years. Mayor Todd Gloria pushed back on the increase, calling on his board members to find a way to soften the blow on San Diegans.
Then the city, the Water Authority’s largest customer, stepped in and offered to help foot part of the bill by paying a few of its water bills in advance.
The Water Authority bit immediately, sending a letter on Friday to its 22 customer water districts that said, if everyone did the same, they could lower the 19 percent rate increase that would go into effect Jan. 1 by 1.5 percent.
The Water Authority’s cash crunch exists for several reasons, namely because the Water Authority is selling less water – therefore it’s making less money. The last few years have been inordinately rainy for southern California, which is great for cities and farmers because the land is so saturated and reservoirs are so full, but that means less water needs to be purchased from non-local sources through the Water Authority.
Also, the Water Authority has to buy water from farmers in Imperial Valley and from a desalination plant in Carlsbad, the region’s most expensive water source, even if there’s no demand for it. (The new leader of the agency has been trying to find ways to sell off some of those supplies.) Plus, the Water Authority is still paying off about $2 billion in debt from building a lot of infrastructure to get and keep water here.
The crunch is a $95 million bill coming due in April to help pay down some of that debt, confirmed Mike Lee, a Water Authority spokesman. Nick Serrano, Mayor Gloria’s deputy chief of staff and vice chair of the Water Authority board, told Voice of San Diego the agency approached the Water Authority with the idea. Even if only the city of San Diego participates, a few fronted monthly bills could make a dent in that bill.
Beyond paying people and pensions, water is the city’s largest expense. San Diego spent about $300 million for water in 2023, records show, and that was during a nice rainy year.
Even though San Diego is having a tough budget year of its own, water is a planned expense that lives in its own, special untouchable fund. By law, water districts can only charge what it costs to provide water. Districts bank water rates and keep some cash on hand as an emergency reserve because, no water, no civilization.
“For everyone who has been critical of the city’s influence on the Water Authority, this is us coming to the table with solutions,” Serrano said.
The Water Authority is slated to vote on the rate increase at its June 27 meeting.
Gawd Almighty, Nick Serrano is doing everything he can to become a clone of Todd Gloria.
For which Todd exacerbated by spending 1.5 Billion for his toilet water project. This is just the beginning of more problems down the road this city government just doesn’t seem to grasp. Vote Larry Turner.
If the money was used to repair the dam system instead of toilet water, we could store more water and the rate increase wouldn’t be as much. Thanks Todd.
Any water recycling we can perform will help the San Diego economy. The recent, temporary, water surge, will not continue forever.
And when people recycled not so long back, they were rewarded with rate increases from not enough revenues. Remember?
I THANK YOU MAYOR TODD GLORIA AND VICE CHAIR NICK SERRANO FOR STEPPING UP DECREASING THE RATE OF 1.5%