Placerville staff propose multi‑year water and sewer rate increases to cover debt, staffing and rising costs

City of Placerville staff on Jan. 22 presented a five‑year plan of increases to water and sewer rates intended to close projected revenue shortfalls driven by wholesale water cost hikes, debt service from past plant upgrades and ongoing operating cost inflation.

"We had to finance $45,000,000 worth of improvements" to the wastewater treatment plant and "41¢ just goes to the debt," City Manager Dave Warren told the council while explaining that debt service now consumes a large share of the sewer enterprise budget. Staff said the plant upgrade principal remaining is about $35 million and that debt service represents roughly 41% of the sewer enterprise operating budget.

Natalie Tornicasa, interim director of finance, described the operational drivers behind the recommendations—personnel, services and supplies, equipment and debt—and told the audience that personnel benefits and supply costs have risen considerably: the city saw a 13% increase in employee benefits this year and assumes services/supplies inflation in its five‑year forecast.

Consultant Michael De Groot of Bartle Wells Associates said Placerville purchases wholesale water from El Dorado Irrigation District (EID), which…