tool name

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009

Livingston residents still angered over water rates

LIVINGSTON -- The city of Livingston may have passed its controversial water, sewer and garbage rate hikes in July but the furor over rate hikes of up to 40 percent has not died down.

Tuesday night the City Council was confronted by an angry crowd demanding the city reduce the rate increases because it was hurting people already down because of the recession.

A sometimes raucous crowd of more than 200 spilled out of City Hall onto Main Street, some calling for resignations, and others asking the council if it had any conscience at all. The crowd held signs demanding a reduction in water rates and voiced anger at the mayor and even the city manager.

Like many in the crowd outside of City Hall, Daniel Hernandez, 64, had attended the meeting because of the sudden jump in his monthly utility bill. He said the first time he learned about the hike was when he got his bill. He usually pays about $64 a month. That number jumped all of a sudden to $130. "No one can pay, that's why we are here," he said.

Maria Maldonado, 59, said her bill had skyrocketed as well. It went from $60 a month to $183. She said she was not against an increased rate just not so high. "I need a reasonable price."

Almost every speaker at the gathering said the rate was too high for a town of farmworkers who did not make a lot of money.

The exception, Celeste Herrera, reminded the crowd the issue had not come out of nowhere. "This water issue did not happen overnight," she said. Herrera also said the rate hike had been in people's bills, and in several languages.

Luis Flores, 25, one of the protest's organizers, said the council passed the rate hike with little public notice and with little transparency. He said he and several others went to churches, made posters and even talked with the Foster Farms union to organize the protest, which was the second such protest in Livingston against the rate increase. Flores said he is not against he hike, they just need to be less extreme. "We were using their outrage to build momentum," he said.

That outrage came with the first increased bill, in many cases 40 percent above what it was just a few months ago.

The council, which has been split 3-2 on the issue, faced the crowd with differing points of view.

Councilman Rodrigo Espinoza, who put an item on the agenda addressing a change in the fee schedule, said he wanted to give the people a chance to voice their opinion.

Councilwoman Margarita Aguilar said the council should have thought of the harm these increases have caused before they voted.

The rate increases, the first since 1995, are needed, said City Manager Richard Warne, because the city cannot continue paying roughly $30,000 a month from the general fund for a water and sewer system that are not paying for themselves.

A community meeting on the water and sewer rates will be at 6 p.m. Nov. 4 in the Portuguese Hall.

Reporter Jonah Owen Lamb can be reached at (209) 385-2484 or jlamb@mercedsun-star.com.