Drought surcharge to pop up in Tulare residents' water bill

TULARE, Calif. (KFSN) -- People in Tulare will soon have to start paying an extra fee on their water bill because of the drought.

Late Thursday afternoon, the Tulare Board of Public Utilities unanimously approved a temporary drought surcharge onto people's water bill. Some people showed up -- upset about the extra fee.

People headed to the Tulare City Council chambers on Thursday to find out more about the proposed $2 to $5 surcharge on their water bill. Some we spoke to weren't very happy.

"I don't like it. The economy's bad, things are bad, and we have our own business, and I'm trying not to pass the things on to my customers," said Mike Baker.

"It was about $83 to $86 and now it's probably going to be about $91, and that is for our trash and sewer also," said Michele Moore.

Tulare city leaders say dramatically low water tables from this year's drought are forcing them to push their wells 60 feet deeper. This costs money and power. City Manager Don Dorman says he expects they'll have to go even lower by the end of the summer.

"We already spent $150,000 that we didn't have budgeted for lowering the wells to be able to find the water, and before we even started discussing this we spent another $50,000 related to the drought from last summer," said Dorman.

The city says it also needs to hire a couple part-time employees to patrol neighborhoods and make sure people are actually following the enforced water restrictions. Right now, people can water three times a week, on their designated watering days.

Some people who live in Tulare say it's frustrating that the fee is higher for those who use more water. Some want the city to pay for the extra costs through the general fund.

"I think that they should look into the public fund that we have set up to go ahead and go into that because we've already paid into that. I feel we're being double taxed," said Moore.

Dorman says he understands people's frustrations during today's economy, but the funds are needed to operate the water system.

"We've got to maintain the system because if those pumps stop running, paying a few extra dollars is going to be the last of the worries," said Dorman.

The drought surcharge is expected to not go into effect until October 1st to give the city time to hire people for water patrol and make any other adjustments.