Residents and businesses urge Chico council to reconsider steep sewer rate increase; reconsideration to be agendized
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Summary
Dozens of residents, landlords, and business representatives told the Chico City Council the proposed sewer rate — described in public comment as an 180% option concentrated in early years — would harm renters, small businesses and the local hospital; the council agreed to agendize a reconsideration.
Dozens of residents, property owners and business leaders urged Chico City Council on April 7 to slow or phase a recently approved sewer rate increase, warning the scale and timing would be economically painful for renters, small businesses and nonprofits.
Bill Seguin, director of facilities at Enloe Medical Center, told the council the hospital’s sewer bill would jump sharply under the selected option: “You are asking me to go from $48,686 … to $370,000 a year,” he said, and urged the council to reexamine the rate structure and phasing. Multiple property‑owner groups and the Chamber of Commerce asked the council to send the proposal back to committee for additional review and to consider staged alternatives, debt financing, or supplemental funding sources.
The public‑comment period was dominated by concern about the magnitude of the increase, how the city’s rate study treated large institutional dischargers, and the limits of the Proposition 218 protest mechanism for renters. Speakers provided specific asks: hold a dedicated public hearing on sewer rates, examine low‑income assistance models, and present a clearer project list linking specific capital projects to the proposed revenue.
Council members acknowledged the infrastructure need but also the community impacts. Council member Goldstein said delaying the decision could be acceptable if it did not imperil the funding timeline; council member O’Brien stressed the council must be careful and deliberative. Vice Mayor Bennett later filed a motion (seconded) to agendize reconsideration of the March 17 vote on the sewer fee increase; that motion to place reconsideration on a future council agenda passed 5–2.
The council did not adopt new sewer policy at this meeting; instead the body directed staff to treat the matter through the Prop 218 process and scheduled further review, including a future agenda item to address low‑income subsidy model options.
