The City of Grover Beach approved a wastewater rate increase during its Monday night City Council meeting.
Starting July 9, wastewater rates in Grover Beach will go up by 17.8% each year for the next five years. That’s about $2.28 more per month for a typical single-family home.
The money will help replace aging sewer lines– some of which are 60 years old and built for a city of just 3,000 people, according to city officials. Today, Grover Beach has more than 12,000 residents.
Grover Beach Mayor Kassie Dee said she knows rate hikes can be frustrating but sees this as a long-term investment.
“When we're working on these pipes, the cost of material has gone up– the labor has gone up,” Dee said. “So, when we look at this, it was necessary for us to raise these rates in order to have more money in the pot, so that we can address the infrastructure needs.”
Dee said residents want road repairs, but the sewer lines underneath the roads need to be fixed first.
For people struggling financially with the increases, Dee said there are assistance programs available, including PG&E’s CARE program for low income households.
Other parts of San Luis Obispo County are seeing rate hikes too. The City of Atascadero is considering an 18.5% annual increase over two years to its sewage rates.
If the City does not receive a minimum number of protests to the increase at a public hearing tonight, rates will increase on July 10.
