Tehachapi council adopts water and wastewater rate increases after Prop 218 hearings

The Tehachapi City Council adopted new water and wastewater service charges following Proposition 218 hearings on May 5, approving the proposed schedules by a 5-0 vote after receiving 50 written protests on water and 49 on wastewater.

City Public Works Director Don Marsh and Monique Roberts, an engineer with consulting firm AECOM, presented separate rate studies for the water and wastewater systems. Marsh said the city has undertaken a series of expensive, necessary maintenance projects in recent years — including well rehabilitations, major water-main replacements and clarifier work at the wastewater plant — and that projected costs required the adjustments.

"These are projects that are needed to be done to continue to have a reliable water system for the city as well as remain in compliance with all the state requirements," Marsh said at the hearing.

The water rate study recommended eliminating the long-standing two-zone structure (Zone A and Zone B) and moving to a single, citywide rate because per-capita water use has fallen and the city has acquired additional water rights. AECOM reported a modest initial rebalancing in which Zone A customers would face a larger one-time increase to equalize rates with Zone B, which historically paid more because of groundwater-rights mitigation costs. The consultant described the first-year base-rate increases as roughly $3.06 for Zone A and $1.22 for Zone B, and proposed average quantity-rate increases amounting to about $0.18 per 1,000 gallons in later years; AECOM also reported proposed first-year quantity-step changes of about $0.77 per 1,000 gallons for Zone A and $0.03 for Zone B as part of the transition to a single rate.

For wastewater, AECOM and staff said the last full sewer rate study dated back decades and that several large capital and maintenance projects have driven an updated analysis. The wastewater study produced a cost-per-volume estimate that staff translated into new flat and volumetric charges; staff said the base residential wastewater charge in effect on Jan. 1, 2025 was $51.51 and that the July adjustment will take it to $52.60 as part of the multi-year schedule. The consultant presented an estimated unit cost of about $12.97 per 1,000 gallons for treated flow in the forecast year used for the study.

Public comment included objections to process and concern over household cost increases. David Warden, a resident who identified himself as representing constituents in one council district, opposed the water increase and said longtime residents felt unfairly affected by rebalancing. "The majority of the constituents in her district have voiced the opinion ... to oppose that water rate increase," he told the council. Claudia Elliott and other residents asked for clearer maps and earlier, broader outreach; staff and council responded that the formal Prop 218 notices and the full rate-study documents were posted and mailed on the March 7 notice date and that written protests were accepted through the close of the hearing.

The council overruled the written protests as not representing a majority of affected parcels and adopted resolutions approving the proposed water and wastewater charges as shown in the staff rate schedules. The council voted 5-0 on each resolution.

Staff and several council members emphasized the operational and compliance risks of underfunding utilities. Council members and the public referenced the clarifier and other single points of failure at the wastewater plant as reasons to maintain reserves and to perform preventative maintenance. Marsh said future work will include improved backup power at the Rock Pile communications site and other system reliability projects funded in part by the rate revenue.

The council directed the city clerk to include the final count of written protests in the record. The recorded tallies at the meeting were 50 written protests on the water proposal and 49 on the wastewater proposal; staff reported no additional written protests after the close of the hearings. Both rate schedules and the staff reports were attached to the council packet and are available as part of the public record.

The councils actions set the new rates to take effect as laid out in the adopted schedules (Jan. and July effective dates noted in the staff reports), and staff said it intends to revisit rates on a regular schedule rather than delaying another decade between studies.