Hollister City Council delays vote on water rate increase

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A split Hollister City Council delayed its consideration of a proposal to increase water rates until Feb. 17 despite three members supporting the hike. 

At the Jan. 20 meeting, councilmembers Priscilla De Anda and Rolan Resendiz said they opposed the increase because of the impact to their constituents. 

After each council member voiced their position, Resendiz motioned to continue the item and received support from De Anda as well as councilmember Rudy Picha, who said the city had no choice but to raise the rates to keep up with costs.

According to a presentation from Steve Gagnon with Ratfelis, the company conducting the city’s water rate study, Hollister has not increased its rates since 2018.

Gagnon said that, as a result, the water fund is operating at a deficit; it currently stands at $2.9 million in the red. 

On Oct. 20, the council directed staff to go with the lowest rate increase presented, which would result in an increase of between $25.27 and $45.52 per month for residential customers, depending on water consumption.

According to the projection presented by Gagnon, this option would allow the city to eliminate the deficit in 2027 and build a recommended $4 million reserve in 2029. 

“Your water utility is currently operating at a deficit. That means that the revenue coming in is not enough to cover your costs,” Gagnon said. “We all know this is not a sustainable way to operate a water utility. Something needs to be done.”

De Anda said issues such as the proposed rate increase were why she ran for office and questioned why rates had not been increased for so long.

“It should have been happening and because of that the community has to suffer,” she said. 

She said because of the financial impact to the community she could not support the rate increase.

“It’s frustrating for me personally to have to be up here and be caught in this unfortunate situation and make these types of decisions,” she said. 

Resendiz said the proposed increase was a matter of equity and that the majority of the residents impacted live in his district.

“People cannot pay their bills,” he said. “We need help here in Hollister.”

Mayor Roxanne Stephens and councilmembers Dolores Morales and Picha favored the increase in order to cover the costs of service and build the reserve. 

“These are difficult decisions but these are the decisions that if we don’t do right now, three, five years from now we’re going to be in a worse situation,” Morales said, noting the city will have to conduct another rate study in a few years. “We just have to take situations and handle them head on and be able to move together hopefully as a team, as a community and minimize the impact.”

City Clerk Jennifer Woodworth said the city received 281 protest forms from residents, which were submitted by opponents of the increase. State law would require 3,644 clients to submit a protest aimed at prohibiting the City Council from increasing the rates. 

Two members of the public also spoke against the raise.

Resendiz said though the protests didn’t meet the threshold, there were still a lot of residents opposing the rate increase.

He also said the claims by council members that the city didn’t have a choice but to raise the rates, and discussion about old infrastructure, water pipes breaking and its impacts to residents were not credible.

“That’s just scaring people to justify a decision that you probably don’t even, excuse me, have the education or looked into enough to make,” he said. “Slow down, back up, find out what’s really going on and don’t just believe everything and take it at face value.

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