Where: San Diego County, California
Issue: Wynola’s water rates were insufficient to cover maintenance costs and to maintain reserves
Outcome: RCAC helped Wynola’s water board develop a new rate structure and comply with regulations
The Community of Wynola Estates is in a small rural area in the mountains above San Diego. Although it is not a disadvantaged community its outdated rate structure did not provide enough funding to maintain reserves. It does not qualify for state or federal grants so an effective rate structure is important to ensure its ability to pay for future repairs and qualify for and repay loans.
The Wynola Water District asked RCAC to gather data, complete a rate study and guide the board through the process. California’s Proposition 218 requires that taxpayers approve local taxes and fees. To ensure that the process complied with Prop 218, RCAC staff met with Wynola’s accounting staff, operators, general manager and the public for several months and discussed past and future inflation rates, investment returns, community growth rates, water conservation estimates, existing budgets, debt, reserves and capital replacement schedules. RCAC then presented various rate models and the general manager, board members and residents selected base and usage rates that fit their needs and ability to pay.
As a result, Wynola’s general manager, Tim Taschler, and board members decided to raise rates more than 400 percent over the next five years. Among Wynola’s 200 residents, of which 72 are water customers 28 protested the rate increase. RCAC helped with community outreach to explain why the steep increase was needed. Successfully adopted, the new rate structure also puts Wynola’s rates in line with water systems of its size in the area and meets the system’s cash flow needs.
“RCAC has a great model for rate studies,” Tim Taschler says, “and is an independent third party with no vested interest in outcomes. This is really a key selling point for RCAC and why communities should use the services it offers.”
