274 Water Rate Increase Protest Letters “Invalid or Duplicate” –
By Terry Miller
Published: Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
By Terry Miller
Outraged residents who protested a proposed near 40% Water Rate hike in Sierra Madre won last week, or so they thought when City Clerk Nancy Shollenberger said she was “absolutely, positively” certain of the new numbers which indicated a victory for those opposed to the hike :
A press release was issued by Sierra Madre Clerk Nancy Shollenberger Sunday July 18. “Pursuant to the City’s Guidelines For the Submission and Tabulation of Protests, I, Nancy Sue Shollenberger, duly elected City Clerk of the City of Sierra Madre, have tabulated and determined the validity of the written protests to the City’s proposed water fee increase. I hereby find and give notice that there were 1,898 written protests. Accordingly, a majority of parcel owners, who would have been impacted by the proposed fee increase, have submitted written protests.
In addition to the above-mentioned 1,898 written protests, I also noted that the City Clerk’s Office received an additional 151 written protests which were duplicates, and/or did not qualify to be counted, two letters requesting their letters be withdrawn and one letter in favor of the water rate increase, which were not tabulated, along with 26 received after the deadline imposed by the City Council.
Nancy Sue Shollenberger
City Clerk
P.S.The City Clerk did not have access to the Assessor’s Parcel Numbers List/Owner’s Names. If this list is made available to her, she will be happy to check the list again.”Shollenberger declined to comment Monday on the discrepancy between her first count and the second tabulation completed Monday. She did say she was “absolutely, positively” certain of the new numbers”
Now, apparently after further examination a total of only 1,719 valid protests were apparently received against the hike – 129 short of the 1,848 needed for a majority to defeat the proposal, City Clerk Shollenberger said.
According to Shollenberger there were 474 invalid protests or duplicates, she said.
A recent heated public hearing was held in which the majority of speakers protested the proposed hike criticized the amount of the increases, with some saying the hikes would particularly hurt those on fixed incomes.
Under the rate hike structure, the maximum rate increase would be about 37.5 percent over five years; others would see increases of just over 36 percent to 33 percent depending on the amount of water used and size of meter.
The city will now attempt a public relations water awareness program for residents to help customers understand why the increases are important with a seriously aging infrastructure.
The City Council will receive a report regarding the numbers from Shollenberger at tonight’s regular meeting.
Staff said the probable water hike is needed to upgrade the city’s aging water system some of which is 90 plus years old, address the reduction of groundwater, and avert the city from draining its water fund reserves as well as evasion on its bond notes.
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