The Pasadena City Council on Monday tabled a decision regarding a proposed sewer fee structure and rate adjustment that would raise residents’ monthly use fee by 150% next year with additional incremental increases planned over the next four years.
The panel will continue the public hearing on both sewer and the waste collection adjustment on Monday, May 6 at 5:30 p.m. Additionally, staff has been instructed to provide clarification on how funds were allocated in the budget, especially for capital improvement programs, and how the hikes could impact the residents.
Monday’s decision came after a lengthy discussion punctuated by passionate pleas from residents who argued the rates are excessive, with a few city council members expressing reservations about imposing such high fees on residents as immediate as next year.
“To hit our residents with increases as significantly as this in multiple ways, and as I just mentioned, it does seem very punitive,” Councilmember Tyron Hampton said. “I think the increases are needed and they have to happen, but I don’t think the first year should look like this and I think we should smooth the increases out throughout the years. The first year should not jump up to basically 100%, I think the first year should be maybe 20%.”
Vice Mayor Steve Madison said that information provided by staff is incomplete in regards to budget appropriation.
“I may be confused, but it sounds to me like it’s not true that we have expenditures in this amount and expenses in this amount,” he said.
Another point of contention for the residents is having separate discussions on utility fees.
The panel was originally scheduled to discuss a proposed waste collection fee increase during the Monday, April 8 meeting. However, this item was pushed back to next Monday, April 15 after notices had been sent out to residents notifying them of the public hearing.
The City Council also separately approved a public hearing date of June 3 to…
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