Rates rise in April for water

The Las Vegas Valley Water District raised its rates by an average of 23 percent on Tuesday, but that wasn't nearly enough for several valley residents.

Of the handful of people who spoke out about the increase, most said much higher rates are needed to reach those who still use huge amounts of water despite all of the talk of shortage and drought.

Water District Deputy General Manager Richard Wimmer said the new rates are designed to do exactly that: send "a pricing signal for residential customers who use an awful lot of water, outside water primarily."

Although the hike will affect high-volume users the most, all water district customers will see at least some increase in their bills beginning in April.

In addition to a flat, 50 percent increase in the monthly service fee, the district is raising the rates in all four of its consumption-based tiers.

Tier 1, which applies to the first 5,000 gallons used at most single-family homes, will go up 5 percent to $1.16 per 1,000 gallons. The rates will increase 10 percent in Tier 2, 18 percent in Tier 3, and 32 percent in Tier 4.

Generally speaking, minimal water users will see their bills go up about 17 percent and high-volume users will see their bills jump more than 30 percent, Wimmer said.

He said the district wanted to get the new rates in place quickly so people could experience them for a month or two before water use peaks in the heat of the summer.

Depending on how customers react to the pricing signal, the rate increase is expected to generate about $65 million a year.

Wimmer said some of the money will be used to replace $30 million that was taken from the district's reserve fund last year. The rest will be used for maintenance and operation of the district's water system.

"It's not a windfall by any stretch," Wimmer said of the additional revenue.

The County Commission, which serves as the water district's board of directors, approved the new rates in a 6-1 vote.

Chris Giunchigliani voted against the change because she said the service fee increase seemed to unfairly target low-volume water users and people on fixed incomes.

She also wants golf courses to pay a larger share.

The vote came after a public hearing that drew fewer than a dozen comments -- something several people blamed on the way the meeting was publicized.

It was unclear from the posted agenda that a rate increase would be approved, much less discussed on Tuesday. The agenda referred instead to a public hearing "regarding revisions to the district service rules."

State Sen. Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, came to the meeting with her water bill in hand.

She said she doesn't understand why rates differ depending on the size of the meter the water flows through.

For example, residential customers with 5/8-inch meters begin paying Tier 2 rates after the first 5,000 gallons they use, while those with 3/4-inch meters don't move into Tier 2 until they hit 7,500 gallons.

"Whether it's coming out of a garden hose or it's coming out of a fire hose, a thousand gallons of water is a thousand gallons of water," Carlton said.

Wimmer said the new rate structure is the first step toward "closing the gap" between different meter sizes.

The district convened a group of citizens last year to review its rates, and they recommended the change be made in three stages to avoid "rate shock," Wimmer said.

Launce Rake from the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada served on the citizens committee. On Tuesday, he called the rate increase a good first step so long as it doesn't end up impacting those who are already doing all they can.

"We don't want to save this water on the backs of minimal users," he said.

Rake added that convincing people to use less water will be a wasted effort if is "serves only to feed the beast" of unchecked development.

"We need to start a serious conversation in this community, I think for the first time, about how growth is affecting our quality of life and our pocketbooks," he said.

In addition to those who spoke on Tuesday, Wimmer said the district received 11 written comments, four of them against the rate hike, three in support, and four calling for an even larger increase.

As part of Tuesday's vote, commissioners also doubled the fines for those caught watering on the wrong day or otherwise violating the rules against waste.

A first offense will now cost customers between $80 and $320, depending on the size of their water meters. After the fourth violation, the fines now top at $1,280 for small meters and $5,120 for large ones.

Wimmer said most cases of water waste are corrected after an initial warning from the district. The higher fines are designed to get the attention of those who continue to violate the rules.

"Keep in mind that the purpose of this is to get people to change their behavior," he said.

Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0350.