County water utility to again request rate increase
Commission rejected attempt last year to boost fees for system that serves 10,000
Santa Fe County officials plan to ask commissioners again to approve increases in water rates for the users of the county’s fledgling water utility, which serves up to 10,000 people.
The Public Works Department is seeking to expand its 6-year-old water system, despite a projected $6.2 million deficit for the budget year that ends June 30.
County commissioners on Nov. 29, in a 3-2 vote, rejected the department’s request for rate increases across all classes of water customers.
Commissioners voted against the rate hikes — which would have forced the average residential customer to pay 15 percent more each month — despite warnings from Claudia Borchert, head of county utilities, about potential cutbacks in customer service and maintenance.
Last week, Erik Aaboe, business finance manager for the Public Works Department, told commissioners the deficit outlook for the water system remains unchanged since November. Officials will compare the revenue the county collected in water bills versus the utility’s spending for calendar year 2016 before asking the County Commission a second time for rate increases.
Debt is the chief contributor to the water system’s projected
shortfall. The county is on the hook to repay just over $3 million for the Buckman Direct Diversion, where the county draws from the Rio Grande in an agreement with the city of Santa Fe. The county also is planning on taking out $1.4 million in additional debt for water system expansions.
Future costs include the county’s pledge to contribute to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s planned multimillion water system that would serve 9,200 customers between Española and Santa Fe by 2024.
The project is part of a settlement in a decades-old federal water rights lawsuit.
Under last year’s failed rate hike proposal by the Public Works Department, the average residential water bill would have increased to $51.09 per month from $44.55.
Aaboe told commissioners the county was also proposing tiered rates for commercial water cus- tomers to ensure equity in billing those customers. Currently, the county has individual agreements with certain high-volume users, such as the Club at Las Campanas and the New Mexico Department of Corrections, Aaboe said.
Aaboe said some large commercial customers expressed discontent with the proposed rate hikes. Before the department proposes a new water rate schedule to the board in the spring, Aaboe said, officials will consult high-volume users.
Commissioner Robert Anaya said noncommercial customers were also concerned about the rate hikes and that such a process should be as inclusive as possible.
Aaboe said the department would seek to publish and hold hearings before commissioners on the proposed rate changes. County Manager Katherine Miller requested that any rate changes become effective July 1, the beginning of the next budget year.
If revenue from water customers cannot fund the county’s water system, all county taxpayers will have to chip in, Commissioner Anna Hamilton said.
“You know, that means that everybody in the county is then paying for water for a few people,” Hamilton said.