A few months ago Garden Grove residents went bonkers over the news that their water rates were about to go way up. Now Santa Ana residents are facing the same deal – but they are ALREADY paying more than their counterparts in Garden Grove.
You won’t get the truth by reading the City of Santa Ana’s notes on the water rate increase. Nor will you get it by reading the O.C. Register, which reported that “Homeowners would see their water bills go up by an average of about $4.25 a month under a revised water rate going before the City Council on Tuesday.” As usual, the Register reporter just regurgitated what the city told him.
I dug a bit deeper – and the truth is most unpleasant. Here is the link to the City of Santa Ana’s “Request for Council Action” for Item 75A. I will refer back to it in a moment. First we will have a look at a document produced by the Metropolitan Water District of Orange County, that focuses on Orange County water rates. It took me an hour of searching on the Internet to find it – but the information in it is solid gold. Take a look below at a water rates comparison, where you will find that water in Santa Ana is NOT cheap. We pay far more than our neighbors in Anaheim, Garden Grove and Orange.
Not a pretty picture. Remember that in Santa Ana WE HAVE AN UNDERGROUND WATER TABLE. Why are we paying so much for our water? Most cities have to pay for storage, or import everything. So how exactly are we blowing our money in Santa Ana? Glad you asked. See the table below. Note that we spend a massive 33% of our budget on administration.
This of course begs the question – how much do other districts spend on administration? I found a very good example. The Moulton Niguel Water District’s budget is comparable to Santa Ana’s. You will find it below. Note that they only spent 19% of their budget on administration. And they had to spend over three million on pumping. Santa Ana spent zero on pumping. They also spent almost double what Santa Ana did on capital improvements.
So how much do the residents served by the Moulton Niguel Water District pay for THEIR water? Take a look below. They pay A LOT LESS than we do in Santa Ana. Why is that I wonder? I know we won’t get the truth from our city administration.
I promised earlier to refer back to the Santa Ana document regarding their proposed water rate increase. There are some very poignant letters in the package from distraught residents who fear that the increase will have a very negative affect on them. One apartment landlord writes that the water rate increase is 11% for him, but he can only raise the rent by two to three percent as his renters are low income. There’s the rub – landlords will pass the increase on to their poor tenants. And rents will go up yet again.
Another resident writes that her income is less than $17,000 a year – and that has to cover her expenses plus another family member.
A retired resident by the name of Charles Covey scrawled a handwritten note that painfully states that his Social Security is already gone when he gets it, due to rent increases and other increases. He then asks “why don’t you cut all the waste by city government?” Why indeed.
Another resident complained that she received two notices, one for a person that does not live at her address. Her handwritten note states “please remove one of the two names – maybe this is why you need more money.” Burn!
Jose Santamaria and his wife sent in a very nicely typed letter protesting the changes for economic reasons. They mentioned that the increases would “certainly cause hardship.”
Mrs. McNeilly wrote a handwritten note that stated “this is a burden that will be difficult for me to bear. Please have a heart and make an exception for people like me. I have physical problems that require added expenses.”
Another resident sent a handwritten note on Calvary Chapel letterhead, stating that she received an empty envelope from the city. She wrote “I am returning it to you because maybe it is important.” Good grief! The city sent out empty notices of the water rate increase?!?
Clearly there are questions that need to be asked about Santa Ana’s water rates and the apparent misuse of their budget. But the O.C. Register won’t be asking them. And folks wonder why blogs are kicking the newspaper’s tails? I don’t even get paid for this public service! But someone has to keep the pressure up on the city. We have a City Council that is almost 100% Democratic, by registration, but you would never know it. Our City Council regularly robs from the poor to feed their rich friends. What a sad, sad joke Santa Ana is. And the joke is on us.
As if we needed another reason to vote no on the bogus term limits measure that will give these foul council members another four years in office, and our awful Mayor Miguel Pulido another sixteen years in office. Just say no!
And be sure to show up to the Council Meeting next Tuesday. “The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 20 Civic Center Plaza.” At least the Register told us that much.
Toilet to tap! If you wonder why
the rates are going up…it is
simply supply and demand. The big
push is to use Reclaimed Water as
potable. YUK! Too many suspended
viruses, residual birth control,
heart medicine and viagra – just
to name a few.
They say the Reclaimed water is
safe! 2UV Applications and then
reverse Osmosis…..or whatever
order they choose! The issue is
“infrastructure” again. Too many
people not enough water and why
they don’t want to touch Desalination…is based on “trumped up” charges that it
will kill all the ocean animals
and sea enime! We can launch a
man to the moon but we can’t not
kill the Ocean in the process…
who are they kidding? Now they
want to Desalinate the Sewage..
they think that is no problem…
but to actually Desalinate Sea
Water..which we happen to have
a bunch of – NAH! Who are these
wonderful bureaucrats anyway?
Doesn’t Claudia Alvarez get paid $185 per meeting (10 per month max) to represent the city of Santa Ana on the Orange County Water District board of directors? You would think for several thousand dollars a month in stipends she could at least raise a fuss when the water rates get jacked up on us here in Santa Ana! Can the O.J. team please find out if she has voted for or against increasing our rates on the city council and the O.C. Water board? I voted for her every time she ran because as a Latino I thought we should have more Latinos on the Council but I can’t keep paying these increases in water rates!
Great news…the rich in Irvine pay less for water while those of us stuck here in the Barrios of Santa Ana get the shaft! Thanks for letting us know what’s going on Art.
We do we get to start drinking the toilet water..yummy! I see the pipe getting built along the river. I and hardly wait to poor my 8 year old a nice tall glass of water from the toilet!
Art,
On one particular point – the water table you speak of is under much of Orange County – not just Santa Ana. To maintain that water table requires is a county-wide effort. If Santa Ana tried to get all their water from wells, this would cause problems for the county as a whole.
Some background….
http://www.ocwd.com/_html/wf21.htm
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/distance/gg101/Programs/program25%20GroundWater/program25.html
The presence of the water table is irrelevant to this particular discussion.
Holy smoke, $185 per meeting! No wonder former Santa Ana councilman Big Dan Grissett sat on that board for nearly two decades! And I guess the $2,000 a month comes in handy for Octogenarian Kate Barr who represents Garden Grove. Don’t forget those water junkets traveling all over CA and the U.S. “looking at water issues” and learning how to raise rates! Nice work if you can get it!
I’d like to know what Mr. Bannister thinks about this whole “Toilet to Tap” concept.
I live in Santa Ana and I think the tap water tastes like pee as it is right now. I can’t imagine what it will taste like when they “supercharge” it with actual pee. I hear in San Diego they built one of these plants and never turned it on because of Enviromental Justice issues. (That’s a fancy way of saying the poor people were going to be forced to drink the rich peoples pee). I wonder if this plant will ever get used or if the protests will be too much.
I wish Councilmember Michele Martinez would take the Santa Ana position on the O.C. Water Board. She would not be afraid to vote no to rate increases and why should Claudia get the nearly $2,000 per month in Stipens when she keeps voting for tax increases and rate increases. Let’s support Michele for O.C. water board. The council appoints so she needs 4 votes including her own to replace Claudia. THis is important.
Hey, that’s what you get from a Santa Ana Valley High School education (SAUSD)! LOL Michelle Martinez is a Santa Ana Valley High School Alumni, Class of 96 or 97. Oh Lord what a small world, who would of thought I went to school with this lady. One thing I know for sure, she was not one of the smarter one’s because I had GATE and Honors classes and she was not part of it. LOL
Great information and thank you very much. City residents are taxed too much and too often by the city. Santa Ana residents take a look at your SCE, The Gas Company, and Cellular bills to name a few and you will see a Santa Ana utility tax on your bills. As a resident of the city of Santa Ana I feel like we are living in poor and heavily taxed Central America County.