Editorial: MMWD must show how rate hike will help water supply

The Marin Municipal Water District’s directors are on a political hot seat.

They are considering a four-year plan of raising rates, possibly as much as 20% for most customers, to right MMWD’s fiscal ship and pay for expanding the district’s storage capacity and make needed repairs.

A 20% increase is tough to swallow at any time, but the timing of the proposed increase is also frustrating.

After several years of drought, including the 2022 threat that the district could run out of water, MMWD customers have been conserving water.

Historically, that creates an economic equation that also means a significant drop in MMWD’s revenues.

The less water we use, the less we pay to MMWD, leaving the district in a budgetary bind of having less cash to cover its operational costs and to pay for longterm repairs and improvements.

That leaves many ratepayers understandably feeling that they are paying more for using less water.

On top of that, in recent years, the district has included fees to watershed maintenance and capital upkeep to ratepayer charges.

The threat that the district might run out of water fueled voters in November to elect three new directors.

They are trying to lift the district out of its budgetary dilemma while at the same time fulfilling voters’ hope that the district will be in a stronger position to weather the next drought.

Recent rains bought them some valuable time in terms of bolstering the district’s storage capacity, but it’s not lifting the district out of its budgetary dilemma.

MMWD officials don’t expect the wet winter and spring to dampen customers’ conservation ways.

Directors have also made a point of emphasizing that the district needs to get its budget and its system, from water sources to delivery, right with the ongoing challenges of climate change.

As board president Monty Schmitt put it, the district needs to build a strategy for “resiliency.”

The district also needs to make a case to its ratepayers, clearly detailing how the increased revenue will be spent toward that goal; that such a significant increase will make a significant difference in making the district’s water supply more resilient.

That includes making improvements and repairs that are needed, but in past years have been postponed, and increasing the district’s supply to avoid another 2021 close call.

No one really expected that increasing the district’s supply and storage capacity would be cheap. That investment would surely affect rates.

The district is also proposing instituting a drought surcharge, bumping up rates to make up for reduced water sales during prolonged dry periods.

The overall size of the increase, however, is jolting.

By conserving more, ratepayers can still qualify for lower tiers and see less of an increase – less than 10%.

Three new directors were elected to put the district on a new path, one away from the cycle where customers were routinely told to reduce their water consumption and then saw their rates and bills rise.

Given the size and timing of the proposed increase, directors need to show, in promise and in action, that this plan will make a significant difference, one that’s in line with the change voters called for in November.