By Khalida Sarwari
Come July, most Saratoga families will begin paying an additional $3 a month for their sewage service. The West Valley Sanitation District Board of Directors is recommending a 10 percent increase in sewage rates beginning July 1.
According to Saratoga City Councilman Chuck Page, who serves on the board, revenues would be used to pay for an upgrade of a wastewater treatment plant in San Jose that Saratoga shares. WVSD directly provides wastewater collection services and contracts with the city of San Jose for the treatment of wastewater. San Jose faces a major rebuild of the plant during the next decade, and the proposed rate increases are needed to address WVSD’s share of the $950 million in capital improvement projects that will be constructed over the next five years.
While the rate hike is “painful,” Page said revenues would go toward refurbishing a plant that is “in sore need of upgrades.”
“San Jose has been talking about upgrading the wastewater treatment plant,” said Page. “It’s really outdated. This has been in the process for years and years.”
The board’s recommendation calls for a five-year rate increase cycle consisting of a 10 percent hike over the next three years followed by a 9.5 percent increase in 2016 and a 9 percent increase in 2017.
The current single-family residential rate in areas of the city that are serviced by the West Valley Sanitation District is $27.55 a month. Rates would go up approximately $2.76 a month if the 10 percent increase is adopted. For most residents, sewer service is billed as part of their annual property tax statement, while some institutional and commercial users are billed directly by WVSD.
If the board decides to implement the increase for every year of the cycle, the rate could go up to as much as $43.77.
A third of the residents in Saratoga are serviced by the Cupertino Sanitation District, which has also proposed a sewer rate increase, according to Page.
Formed in 1948, the WVSD is a special purpose district governed by a board of directors with five members representing the county and each of the four cities within its boundaries. Currently, the district provides wastewater collection and treatment services to a population of about 108,000 in the cities of Campbell and Monte Sereno, the town of Los Gatos, two-thirds of Saratoga and the intervening unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County.
The board will conduct a hearing on the proposed fee increase May 8 to hear from the public. The hearing will be held at 6 p.m. at 70 N. First St., in Campbell.
Said Page, “We want to make sure people come out and if they have questions, they get their questions heard and if we can, try to answer them.”
For more information about the change in sewer rates or the May 8 meeting, call 408.385.3050.
West Valley Sanitation is seeking a 10 percent increase in sewer rates
