The outcome was predictable at last night’s meeting of the Joshua Basin Water District’s board of directors; their rates are going up. Reporter David Haldane, who was there, tells you by how much…
If you get your water from the Joshua Basin Water District, you might want to consider skipping a few showers. That’s because, beginning next month, customers paying the median of $44 a month will see their bills jump to nearly $50. And in five years, they’ll be paying a whopping $80 monthly just to turn on their taps.
It’s all part of the hefty rate increase approved by a 4-1 vote of the district’s board of directors last night. The vote came after a standing-room-only public hearing at which the mood of local rate payers ranged from outrage to reluctant acceptance.
Supporters say the increase is needed to pay for the long-deferred maintenance and repair of an infrastructure containing pipes more than seventy years old. But that was hard to swallow for board vice president Bob Johnson, who cast the only no vote.
“I think we could flatten the rates, so they might work over an extended period of time instead of the huge spike that we’re having right now.”
