Las Gallinas sewer district raises rates for capital improvements

Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District customers saw sewer rates go up 11% this month, marking the first jump in an approved four-year rate hike plan.

The new annual rate, which started July 1, rose from $1,122 to $1,233 per single-family home. The $9.25-a-month increase affects some 30,000 customers in northern San Rafael and at the Marin Valley Mobile Country Club in Novato.

The plan was approved at a special meeting on June 30 to enable the district to continue funding long-term capital improvements, including a multimillion-dollar renovation of its headquarters at 300 Smith Ranch Road. The approval allows the district board to seek a maximum increase of 10% each year through the 2026-27 fiscal year.

Multifamily residential customer rates are adjusted to 90% of a single-family customer. Non-residential customers’ sewer service charges are calculated based on variable water use and estimated sewer strength.

For the first year, the new rate is expected to increase revenue from $17.1 million to $18.9 million.

“This is what we believe we need in order to generate the revenue to continue serving our community,” said Curtis Paxton, general manager of the district.

The district operates a system comprising about 105 miles of gravity sewer lines, 6.7 miles of force mains and 28 pump stations. It is one of two full-service sanitary districts in Marin.

The State Water Resources Control Board has ordered the district to complete a sewer system management plan, which summarizes the inventory and condition of the district’s network. Some of the proposed capital projects were born out of that assessment.

Paxton said that over the past four years the district has focused on the $68 million upgrade of its treatment plant, which was completed last month. The project increased the plant’s secondary treatment capacity from 8 million gallons to 18 million gallons per day, improving reliability during extreme weather events.

“Now we’re going to focus on improvements on our sewer collection system,” he said. “We also have an aging admin building that was constructed in the 1950s and is due for a rehab, remodel, replacement.”

The headquarters remodel will be done in segments and financed through debt services expected to be between 20 and 30 years. The project site is between the bay and McInnis Park. Plans call for the 15,000-square-foot operations center to be tucked into the hillside that separates the property from the park.

The center would house the control room for the wastewater treatment plant, a laboratory, administrative offices, conference rooms and a classroom on the top floor that would be made available for public use. A new corporation yard and a one-story carport maintenance building are also part of the project.

The district expects to spend about $7.5 million on a new laboratory, $12.5 million on the administration building and about $5 million on the corporation yard.

Another major project is the $15.2 million the John Duckett pump station and sewer rehabilitation project near Gallinas Creek and Highway 101.

On average, the district plans to spend about $18 million a year on capital improvements through fiscal year 2030-31.

At the June 30 meeting, board member Crystal Yezman thanked staff for their work to bring forward an agreeable plan for the board to consider.

“When they first came to us with rate proposals, it was close to 20%,” Yezman said. “We as a board said no, that’s not going to fly, and you need to go back to the table.”

“They worked really hard to adjust the capital program so that the spending was stretched out in order to pay for it,” she said.

More information on the new rates is at bit.ly/3XYr84U.