Several community members held signs and distributed petition forms at the corner of Highway 9 and Graham Hill Road in Felton today to protest the impending SLV Water District rate increases which would fund various infrastructure projects, including a new multi-million dollar administration facility. Individuals with the group San Lorenzo Valley Watchdogs want to get the word out that the deadline for receiving the petitions is on October 24th, before the end of the prop 218 public hearing with the water board. Just over half of the district's homeowners must sign the petition to stop the rate increase from being enacted.
Those protesting distributed fliers that stated the cumulative water rate increase spread out over five years would amount to 65%, making a bill that is currently $90 increase to $190 or more in five years. They say the community cannot afford a new water district campus that would cost over $9 million, and they have proposed ways to scale it down, also stressing that badly needed water infrastructure work should be the main priority for rate increases.
One demonstrator was unhappy that renters had no say in the process, which she says is a requirement of Prop 218.
51% of the 7400 property owners within the SLV Water District need to sign the protest form to stop the rate increase, and all of the forms will be counted after a question and answer period with the SLV Water Board on October 24, held at 7pm at the Senior Center at Highlands Park in Ben Lomond.
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