By Khalida Sarwari
Saratoga is among a coalition of cities and small wastewater agencies that are asking for more accountability and transparency from the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility around the use of ratepayer funds.
The coalition recently filed a claim and a public records request against the treatment plant advisory committee and the city of San Jose, contending that the city is disregarding their request to consider changes to their 30-year-old legal agreements, according to the West Valley Sanitation District. San Jose is the principal owner and administrator of the treatment facility, while the city of Santa Clara is co-owner of the treatment plant. The latter was also served with a public records request.
“We’re asking San Jose to incorporate changes in the master agreements that provide for an equitable allocation of cost and greater transparency in how our ratepayer funds are being used,” Los Gatos Town Councilman Steve Leonardis, a member of the West Valley Sanitation District board of directors, said in a press release. “So far they have refused to consider our amendments, so we filed a public records request to ensure transparency and accountability.”
According to the sanitation district, the suggestion that San Jose is refusing to consider includes: greater transparency on the use of ratepayer funds, fairness in the allocation of improvement costs, regular independent audits of the wastewater treatment plant, fairness in the distribution of income or revenue generated from plant lands, clarification of the use of “overhead funds” charged to the tributary agencies, improved billing procedures for the tributary agencies and their ratepayers and terms and conditions for financing the capital upgrades outlined in San Jose’s 2013 Plant Master Plan.
The claim alleges that San Jose’s failure to update its agreements will result in the city overcharging the coalition for plant improvements. In the claim, San Jose is accused of breaching its contract with the tributary agencies and unfairly allocating the costs of planned treatment plant improvement projects based on an improper formula, therefore asking those agencies to pay more than their fair share of the improvements.
An additional complaint noted in the claim is that San Jose is threatening to withdraw support for a state low-interest loan program which, in effect, would force the agencies to pay cash for their share of the upcoming plant improvements. That, in turn, would require the agencies to implement large rate increases for their ratepayers and likely bankrupt some of the smaller tributary agencies, such as the Burbank Sanitary District.
Tributary agencies are members of the coalition, which include the city of Milpitas, Cupertino Sanitary District, Burbank Sanitary District, the Santa Clara County Sanitation District 2-3 and the West Valley Sanitation District, which serves the communities of Cupertino, Los Gatos, Campbell, Monte Sereno, Saratoga and unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County.
The treatment plant advisory committee is expected to hold a hearing on these allegations.
Link: Saratoga among cities seeking info on use of water ratepayer funds
