PLEASANTON — Many Pleasanton water customers, who have been plagued with infrastructure issues for the past several years, will soon see major increases to their bills.
The Pleasanton City Council is expected to approve a new water rate structure this year that would give discounts to the city’s highest users and more than double the costs its lowest users pay.
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The city plans to replace a tiered rate structure — which collected the lowest fees from Pleasanton’s lowest users — with a “uniform” structure for everyone. The change comes as the city continues its search for new water supplies after recently shutting down its three wells due to significant contamination from PFAS chemicals, which can cause cancer and other diseases.
Moving to a uniform structure is partly due to the California Court of Appeals ruling in July 2024 that tiered structures must be directly tied to the cost of service. The courts decided then that tiered structures violate Proposition 218, a 1996 law limiting the state’s ability to impose tax increases, such as charges for water delivery.
Officials explained at a May 6 council meeting that the city’s lowest water users will see their bi-monthly bill more than double within four years if council approves the new rates.
The changes also come as officials decided this year to begin recovering more costs from its annual Zone 7 fees. Currently, the city gets back just over 30% of what it spends on water from the Alameda County water provider annually from the fees it charges residents. Officials now plan to raise city fees to get back more, between 75% to 100%, of these costs.
Mayor Jack Balch and Councilwoman Julie Testa want to preserve an existing 20% senior discount, which currently serves about 3,200 enrolled senior residents and costs the city about $300,000 annually. The city also offers a 30% discount for low-income families, or an additional 225 residents and costs about $36,000 a year, according to officials.
Balch said he is “extremely worried” that taking away the discounts would put those living below what is considered affordable for the average Pleasanton resident at risk.
Testa argued that taking away the discounts means those residents are “going to be forced out of their houses.”
“I don’t want to end the senior discount,” Testa said. “There’s just no way on those income levels.”
Last week, the council unanimously decided to reconsider the discounts at a later date, but voted to move ahead with the new water rates.
The council will again discuss the new rates on June 3, receive a new rate study July 15, then send notices on the new rates to residents July 30. A public hearing for final adoption will be held Oct. 7 and, if approved, the new rates become effective Jan. 1, 2026.