NEWMAN - The city will take a close look at water rates and annual landscaping and lighting assessments in a pair of studies authorized last week by the council.

The water rate study will look at the costs of correcting deficiencies in the existing water system and has implications for all users citywide; the annual lighting and landscaping fees, by contrast, are paid only by residents of newer subdivisions where assessment districts were established.

City Manager Michael Holland and Director of Public Works Garner Reynolds said that a water rate increase enacted in early 2008 did not cover the cost of necessary improvements to the system identified by the subsequent completion of a water master plan.

“There have been some deficiencies identified within our existing system, storage being one of them,” Holland explained.

The city currently relies on a 100,000 gallon, elevated tank for its water storage.

Reynolds said the current system would not provide adequate flow in the event of a major fire during peak water demand times. The water master plan, he noted, recommends construction of a million-gallon, ground-level tank and a booster pump.

The new study will be far more comprehensive than the one on which the 2008 rate hikes were based, Reynolds noted, and will look to longer-term needs.

It will also allocate water rates and connection fees in a way that current residents are not subsidizing future growth, he stressed.

Any rate increases which emerge from the study would be subject to a Prop. 218 election, in which rate payers have the opportunity to protest the hikes.

Lighting, landscaping

A second study will evaluate the cost of providing street lights and landscaping of public areas in the city’s 15 assessment districts, with an eye toward bringing the assessments back into line with the cost of providing services where deficits are found.

The districts were established in subdivisions built since the late 1980s as a way of funding those services. Residents of older neighborhoods do not pay the assessment.

Rates vary widely from one district to the next. According to city officials, homeowners in older subdivisions pay as little as $17 a year, while others in newer projects fork over more than $200 annually to help keep street lights lit and parks groomed. The assessments are reflected on property tax statements.

One problem, Holland said, is that the first 12 districts were established without provisions to increase fees and allow the city to keep pace with rising costs.

“The city’s goal is to cover the cost of providing services in those areas,” Holland commented. “Every dollar that we have to spend in those areas means less that we have to spend for public safety and street maintenance. We’re asking (the consultant) to independently determine what it takes to maintain street lighting and landscaping in each district.”

There will continue to be differences between the assessment amounts because each district’s demands for lighting and landscaping service is unique.

“Sherman Ranch is a much larger subdivision with larger landscaped areas, as opposed to Creek Canyon or some of the other ones out there,” the city manager explained. “It would be difficult to charge a uniform rate across the board for everybody.”

Holland and Reynolds are making no predictions of where the numbers will come in.

They do indicate, though, that the assessments in at least some of the districts have probably fallen well behind the cost of providing the services.

The study approved by the council last week includes the cost of conducting a Prop. 218 election, required to make adjustments to the assessments. Any such proposal would probably include a provision for annual escalators to keep pace with inflation.

“I do anticipate that we would go to a Prop. 218 vote in order (so assessments) accurately reflect the cost of providing the service to residents,” Holland stated.

“I would believe that some of these, but not all, may be looking at potential increases,” Reynolds agreed.

The cost of the water rate study is just under $28,000; the assessment district review will cost about $33,000.

The studies will take three to four months to complete.