Calleguas District OKs 28% Hike in Water Rate to 5 Cities

The primary supplier for 20 agencies that deliver water to five Ventura County cities has approved a 28% rate increase.

The Calleguas Municipal Water District rate hike is expected to eventually trickle down to about 500,000 people in Camarillo, Moorpark, Oxnard, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks.

In making the decision late Wednesday, the Calleguas board cited an adjustment in prices from its main supplier--the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California--as one reason for the increase.

Calleguas, MWD’s largest customer in Ventura County, will raise its rate from $271 to $347 per acre-foot for treated water. An acre-foot is 326,000 gallons, enough to supply two average-sized families for a year.

The rate, approved by a unanimous vote, will take effect July 1. Member agencies are expected to pass along the increase to their own customers later this year, officials said.

But Calleguas’ new rate is getting resistance from officials in Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley, who have belatedly demanded that Calleguas justify a double-digit price hike.

Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton questioned Calleguas’ decision to add $45 an acre-foot to the $31 MWD rate increase so that Calleguas can raise $185 million to build new pipelines and other facilities.

“This is an unbelievable increase,” Stratton said Thursday. “We don’t think it’s the right time in the middle of a drought when rates are going berserk anyway.”

Calleguas Chairman Patrick Miller said the district needs the money to pay for 33 projects designed to assure steady supplies of imported and reclaimed water.

“We’re looking ahead for the next 10 years,” he said.

The largest project is a $51-million filtration plant at Bard Reservoir, between Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks. Calleguas also plans to construct an eight-foot pipeline that would provide a new channel to bring imported water to Ventura County through Newhall, Miller said.

Thousand Oaks Mayor Frank Schillo said the increase came as a surprise to him and council members. He said they did not learn of the proposed increase until earlier this week when they received a report from the city’s utilities director.

“They have a right to raise their rates, but we should know why,” Schillo said. “This is the first time we’ve had an increase like this since I’ve been on the council.”

A typical household bill in Thousand Oaks could increase by $4.75 a month because of the rate hike, a utilities official said.

Miller said Calleguas officials sent notices on three separate occasions to the cities announcing the proposed rate increase.

“We haven’t tried to keep it a secret,” Miller said. “If they had requested information, they would have gotten it.”

Only Simi Valley formally protested the new rate at the Wednesday night meeting and asked for more information.

Don Nelson, Thousand Oaks utilities director, said Thursday that his city is preparing a letter to Calleguas requesting an analysis of all the projects and how the district plans to pay for them.