Under a proposed increase, Fortuna water and sewer payers could see rates roughly double by fiscal year 2028-29, with most of the spike coming next year.
The Fortuna City Council asked city staff at their Monday meeting to bring back a draft that softens the initial blow: wastewater in 2025 would have seen a 40% increase and water would’ve jumped by 60%. However, city debt service coverage requirements and capital improvement projects mean that they likely have little choice but to ask residents for a rate raise.
“This can’s been kicked down the road for quite a few years. We’ve talked about the need to increase water and wastewater rates for, well, since 2011. And I think it’s come up every year and for whatever reason, there was never an attempt by the council to get these issues addressed,” Councilmember Mike Losey said.
Currently, the average monthly water bill is $28.74, which under the proposed increase would spike to $53.78 in fiscal year 2028-29. For wastewater, the increase is $47.36 to $96.72. Losey said the immediate jump would be “almost unmanageable,” for Fortuna residents, and instead urged a more incremental approach.
However, the city’s consultant noted that under an alternative plan without the immediate jump, residents could ultimately pay more in the long run. Councilmember Kris Mobley said the city might end up needing the additional funds anyway.
The first leap in water and wastewater rates aim to catch the city up from the past decade – where despite inflation and the city’s debt service requirement mandating that annual net revenues must be 125% of the water system’s annual debt service requirements, the rates remained stagnant.
The council balked at the immediate spike in water and sewer connection fees for builders, which in most cases – the full table of proposed increases can be viewed at https://bit.ly/43YQpPH – rose by thousands of dollars.
“To jump it up that much, I mean, it’s almost three times the amount, and that’s going to be hard on top of all of the other inflation costs for builders,” Mobley said.
During public comment, 2nd District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell – whose district includes Fortuna – noted the recent Pacific Gas and Electric Co. rate hikes and the cumulative effect of spiking costs for virtually everything harms residents. She gave an example of when Southern Humboldt County’s Resort Improvement District increased the price of water and sewer hookups.
“The construction loan wouldn’t cover that portion and so they now allow for a payment plan on their hookup fees for two to three years so that people can actually build because it halted construction out in Shelter Cove,” Bushnell said.
Former Mayor Sue Long also commented, noting the item’s poor timing given inflationary costs and other non-discretionary spending jumps.
“Adding all these other costs is just making everything harder and I know that you guys are in a tough spot, and we have to do something,” Long said.
For the increase to pass, the majority of homeowners in Fortuna would need to support it – or at least not oppose it – following the adoption of the rate study, per Proposition 218.
A full list of the proposed increases and their contextual relationship with other Humboldt County rates can be viewed at towncloud.io/go/fortuna-ca/agendas/279.
Jackson Guilfoil can be reached at 707-441-0506.
