Protest fails, Grover Beach to raise water rates 112%

December 12, 2023

By KAREN VELIE

Following a combative hearing on Monday, the Grover Beach City Council voted 3-2 to raise water and sewer rates by 112% over four years, with council members Robert Robert and Clint Weirick dissenting.

During public comment, more than two dozen residents, including six former mayors, asked the council not to raise rates. Multiple speakers argued that the Central Coast Blue water project is an overpriced boondoggle, while only three public speakers voiced support for the project.

On social media and during a protest held prior to the meeting, several people affiliated with the protest threatened to recall any council members who vote to raise water and sewer rates.

In September, a consultant recommended the city raise its rates to cover the cost of Central Coast Blue, a recycled water project designed to establish a dependable water supply for residents and businesses of Grover Beach, Arroyo Grande and Pismo Beach. Grover Beach is also in need of critical sewer system upgrades.

At the current rates, Grover Beach will fall $2 million short of its share of Central Coast Blue costs and other water and wastewater obligations beginning in 2024, with the projected deficit increasing in subsequent years.

During the past two months, members of the community have walked door to door, mailed out fliers, spoke on radio shows and displayed signs asking rate payers to sign protests against the proposed rate increase. If more than 50% of city’s water and sewer rate payers had submitted protest letter prior to the end of Mondays hearing, the proposed increase would have failed.

Instead, approximately 34% of the rate payers submitted protests before the end of the hearing, Mayor Karen Bright said.

Councilman Daniel Rushing voiced his passion for Central Coast Blue, which he said was needed to provide water security. Councilman Zach Zimmerman said the project will just get more expensive with time and that it did not make since to go back to the drawing board.

While Councilman Clint Weirick agreed that the city needs a new water supply, he argued against the rate increase at a time many of the city’s lower income residents are struggling to pay their bills.

Mayor Bright said that more than 60% of the rate payers support the increase, which led to angry shouts from the audience, many of whom believe the bulk of the community is opposed to the rate increase. They argued that a failure to send in a protest does not show support for a rate increase.

Shouts and name calling prompted Bright to call two recesses in an attempt to get the crowd under control.