Modesto looks to ease watering restrictions, raise sewer rates

The Modesto City Council is expected Tuesday to consider easing outdoor watering restrictions and raising sewer rates.

The Utilities Department is recommending the council let homes, businesses and other city water customers increase their outdoor watering from one to two days a week as of May 1. The city went to once a week watering in December.

The city had allowed outdoor watering three days a week until May 2015, when it reduced it to two days a week because of California’s drought, which is now in its fifth year.

California mandated as of June a statewide 25 percent reduction in urban water use based on 2013 water consumption. The reduction was expected to end in February, but the state has extended it through October. The state also mandated varying reductions among cities based on their previous water use.

Modesto was required to reduce its water use 36 percent. Modesto Utilities Director Larry Parlin said the city has reduced its water use by 29 percent. The reductions are for potable – or drinkable – water.

If the council approves the new restrictions, water customers with odd-numbered addresses could water Wednesdays and Sundays; those with even-numbered addresses could water Tuesdays and Saturdays. All outdoor watering would be banned from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The Utilities Department also will ask the council to raise sewer rates over five years.

The proposed increases mean that monthly sewer bills for single-family homes could increase by as much as 6 percent annually over the five years, from $31.92 to $42.45. Other sewer customers – such as stores, restaurants and businesses – also face increases.

If approved, the rate increases would take effect July 1. The council would set the sewer rates each year during the five years, with the potential that it may not seek the full increases in a given year.

Parlin said the higher sewer rates will help the city pay for roughly $190 million in projects that will rehabilitate or upgrade the sewer system. The city would borrow money for the projects and use the higher sewer rates to pay off the debt as well as spend down reserves.

Modesto also is looking at adjusting sewer rates to resolve lawsuits Stanislaus Food Products filed against it. The tomato cannery claimed the city overcharged it for the use of the city’s cannery segregation line, which handles process water from the city’s canneries, by charging it for services it did not receive or need.

A city consultant agreed with Stanislaus Food Products. As part of a deal to end the litigation, Modesto agreed to study its sewer rates and incorporate the findings in the rates. Modesto has until May 1 to do this under the terms of the deal.

The council will hold a public hearing on the sewer rate increases at which property owners and sewer customers can protest the proposed increases. Under Proposition 218 – the state law that governs sewer and water rates – a city cannot raise rates if more than 50 percent of the property owners or customers protest. About 300 of Modesto’s tens of thousands of customers and property owners have filed written protests with the city.

The council also will consider reducing what are called sewer capacity charges, which are one-time fees that new or expanded residential and commercial development pay to hook into the sewer system. The fee for a single-family home would fall from $5,146 to $2,643. Fees paid by other development also would fall. The fees are for providing sewer capacity for new development.

Parlin said the existing sewer capacity charges were adopted in 2007 and based on assumptions for new growth and development that essentially did not happen.

The council will meet at 5:30 p.m. in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St.

This story was originally published April 25, 2016 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Modesto looks to ease watering restrictions, raise sewer rates."