EID Water Rates
"CHEAP" EID WATER RATES:
EID’s "reported"
2011 Residential Water rates
of $387 annually are 19% LOWER than the $478 annual average for
surrounding Water districts Auburn, South Tahoe, Folsom and Rancho
Murrieta (based on .37 acre feet consumption annually).
PROPERTY TAX
REVENUE/RATE SUBSIDIES:
Counting $6.24 million
Property Tax subsidies ($164 per customer annually), EID’s “ALL-IN”
Residential Water rates/revenues total $551 annually, or
15% HIGHER than
the four above surrounding districts. This is due to EID’s high
Debt Service costs for “future customers”, subsidies to Hydro and
Recreation, and subsidies to Domestic Irrigation and Small Farm
customers.
EID’S RESIDENTIAL WATER RATES INCLUDE $4.5 MILLION OF ANNUAL COST SUBSIDIES:
-
$3.0 million annual interest on Debt for “future customers” (i.e. for Project 184/Hydro currently unused Water “firm system yield”, and for unused Water treatment capacity) Note: To comply with Proposition 218 proportionality requirements, these “future customer” costs should be covered by Property Tax revenues, not by Water rates.
-
$1.5 million of subsidies to 1300 Domestic Irrigation customers, 200 Small Farm customers, and to Recreation.
ARTIFICIALLY LOW
EID WATER RATES:
The above “plus and minus”
adjustments combine to create artificially low EID Water rates.
Despite the above $4.5 million COST subsidies, EID’s Residential Water
rates are kept artificially lower than surrounding Water districts due
to $6.24 million of annual Property Tax REVENUE subsidies. Additionally,
correction of Overhead cost allocations will add $1.0 million to Water
costs.
After correcting for EID’s Overhead and Debt cost allocations, EID Water
rates would need to increase at least 20%. With this increase, EID Water
rates would be comparable to the average of surrounding Water districts
Auburn, South Tahoe, Folsom and Rancho Murrieta.