LASAN said this notice was mailed to all residents.
A Palisades resident wrote at the end of October, “I just found out that the mayor approved an increase of 22% on LADWP sewer! How can the city arbitrarily increase this charge without going to the voters to approve the increase? With all the fraud and criminal charges at DWP, this is ridiculous!”
To oppose the increase, a resident needed to send a letter, that included the assessor’s ID (parcel number), parcel site address, the date, printed name, and signature of the property owner and a statement that the resident was protesting the proposed rates. If more than 50 percent of residents wrote a letter opposing the hikes, then they would have been halted.
Susan Shelley, VP Communications with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association was contacted and explained, “Under Prop. 218, property-related fees require a vote of the electorate with a few exceptions, one of them being sewer fees. The process under 218 requires notification of the opportunity to protest the increase. If 50% plus one of the ratepayers send in a protest, the increase cannot take effect. That’s very difficult to achieve in a district with such a large number of customers.”
How were residents supposed to know about Prop. 218, passed in 1996, which prohibits public agencies from implementing proposed rate changes if a majority of the affected property owners file written protests opposing the proposed.
According to Los Angeles Sanitation, public spokesperson Tonya Shelton, extensive outreach was done.
Notices were mailed first class to nearly 955,500 residents. According to the city clerk, less than 1% opposed the increase through writing.
There were two 41- minute webinars held, one on Saturday, July 20, at 9:30 a.m. and a second on August 6 at 6 p.m. click here.
Shelton was asked about how many people logged in and she said about 100.
She said “In order to reach the maximum possible audience, a wide variety of outreach tactics were used, including: 1) Council District Outreach, 2) Meetings with each Council District’s staff, 3)Providing collateral materials to field offices for distribution, 4)Sharing of collateral to be published via the CD’s social media channels, 5) Creating drop-in articles for newsletters, 6) Met with LA Neighborhood Council Coalition on August 3, 7)Virtual Outreach, 8)Email blasts, website updates, and social media posts by LASAN, 9) Attendance at virtual meetings of community partners, 10) Media Outreach, 11) News articles, interviews, and post in hard copy, online, and social media formats for a number of publications, 12) In-Person Outreach and 13) Attendance at community events, church and business meetings, cultural gatherings, festivals, family activities, and more.
Shelton was asked specifically what outreach occurred on the Westside.
She noted that on June 29, LASAN staffed at rate table at the West L.A. Yard Open House. On August 15, there were representatives at the Westchester Pool Party. Councilmember Traci Park’s office was emailed rates on June 15 and LASAN delivered paper versions of the flyer to the field office on July 15. The proposed rate increase was in a CD 11 newsletter click here.
LASAN also worked with DONE (Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, the primary support agency for LA’s Neighborhood Council system.) to notify Neighborhood Councils.
CTN contacted the Venice NC, which did not receive the information. Pacific Palisades Community Council did not receive the information. Brentwood Community Council did receive information about the proposed rate increase and asked if someone from LASAN could present but was told that was not possible.
LASAN says the increase is needed to fund more than $3 billion in infrastructure over the next five years. The City says that one-third of L.A. Pipes are more than 90 years old. (Readers might also remember that Los Angeles has agreed to pay $20.8 million to fix issues at the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant after its 2021 discharge of 12.5 million gallons of wastewater into Santa Monica Bay, in order to resolve a criminal investigation into the spill by the United States Attorney’s office.)
The proposed increases, residents agreed to, by not writing a letter of protest:
*Single-family homes: $75.40 to $92.04 in October 2024, and then to $155.48 by July 2028
*Residential buildings with four units or less: $145 to $177 in October 2024, and then to $299 by July 2028
*Buildings with five units or more: $858.40 a month to $1,047.84 by October 2024, and then to $1,770.08 by July 2028
In May, the City Council gave preliminary approval of the 22% hike. The vote was 11-3, Councilmembers Monica Rodriguez, Kevin de León and Heather Hutt voted against the increase, while Traci Park was absent.
The City Clerk in an August 29 letter, told the City Council and Mayor Karen Bass, they could proceed with a rate increase. https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2023/23-0600-S9_misc_8-29-24.pdf
Several CTN readers also questioned the process and webinars held in the summer when people are on vacation and out of town.
In an August 30 L.A. Daily News story )“Sewer Rate Hike for Angelenos Advances; Final Vote Next Month”), “during a public hearing about the proposed rate increases, critics said the city did not do enough outreach to make sure people knew about the proposed changes to their sewer bills – or how people could effectively vote down the rate increases.
“Although the city’s sanitation bureau scheduled two informational webinars over the summer, they were held in July and August when a lot of folks were out of town, say critics who believe many people remain unaware about the possible changes to their sewer bills.”
This was part of the notice sent to residents.
I literally just uncovered this notice sent to me (under a pile of mail) and read it TODAY (11/23/24) with the notice of proposed increases and zoom meetings in the summer. I’m frustrated with their “Notice” as justification for such a HUGE increase over the next 4 years! Why is there no other media coverage about this? I bet if people actually READ this “drab”/non-descript notice sent, they would have received a LOT more replies to HALT this excessive increase. I’m appalled it’s THAT easy to pass on this expense to LADWP homeowners. This should require a ballot measure or something where people are more aware of what’s happening.