SIMI VALLEY : City May Sue Over Water Rate Increase

The Simi Valley City Council has asked its legal adviser to investigate the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the city’s main water supplier for approving what it believes is an unnecessary 28% rate increase.

“It’s highway robbery,” Councilman Bill Davis said Monday of the rate increase, which takes effect July 1.

The council directed City Atty. John P. Torrance to research the city’s legal options regarding the rate increase and report back to the council at its meeting next week.

Despite its protest, the council said it had no choice but to raise the city’s water rates to compensate for the increase approved by its supplier, Calleguas Municipal Water District. The new rates mean that the city’s 18,000 customers will pay an average of about $8 more every two months on their water bills.

Calleguas’ five-member board of directors voted in April to raise its rate from $271 to $347 per acre-foot of treated water. Calleguas officials said a large part of the increase is needed to help pay for a 10-year, $185-million capital-improvement program that will include construction of new pipelines and other facilities.

But Simi Valley officials questioned the timing of the program, given current economic conditions and the ongoing drought. They also said they have not been given the necessary documentation to show the need for the massive projects that Calleguas is proposing and how those projects will benefit Simi Valley.