Santa Rosa proposes multi‑year water and wastewater rate increases; board asks for smaller first‑year jump

Nick Harvey, deputy director of administration for Santa Rosa Water, and consultant Mark Hildebrand of Hildebrand Consulting presented the 2024 water and wastewater cost‑of‑service study and proposed five‑year rate schedules at a Board of Public Utilities study session.

The study updates the utilities’ 10‑year financial forecast using the city’s June 30, 2023 reserve balances and the FY 2024–25 budget as a baseline. It recommends raising capital appropriations to match an infrastructure report card: for water, the report recommended $34 million per year (up from a seven‑year average of about $13.8 million); for wastewater, $42 million per year (up from a seven‑year average of about $14.2 million). To pay for the phased increase in capital spending, the consultant proposed multi‑year rate increases for customers.

Mark Hildebrand said the proposal for the water utility is an 8% average increase in year one followed by 7% in years two through five (with projected forecasts beyond year five). He explained the increases are driven primarily by planned capital appropriations and the city’s wholesale…