Water consolidation case meeting

Discussion in 'Sun City General Discussions' started by BPearson, Oct 27, 2017.

  1. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    Okay boys and girls, time to put on the face paint and get serious here. Nope, not for Halloween, but for the EPCOR presentation come this Monday. These guys pretty much got a pass as they shoved the waste water case down our throats. Let's be honest, that was mere child's play compared to what the water consolidation will do to us.

    Here's the details:

    EPCOR OPEN HOUSE

    When:
    Monday, October 30

    Time:
    1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
    4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

    Where:
    Sundial Center
    14801 N 103rd Avenue

    Subject:
    Learn More About Water Consolidation
     
  2. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    With all the talk about Next Door, i stopped by and read the EPCOR thread, pretty ugly so i decided to chime in. Thought it might be a good refresher for all of us, here is a re-post from ND:

    I seldom post on ND, but after reading through this thread, i thought some comments might help. This will get wordy, but there is no way to fill in the blanks without lots of words.

    The Arizona Corporate Commission (ACC) has already shoved the waste water rate down our (SUN CITY) throat. The massive increase will phase in over 5 years. SCHOA has raised enough money to appeal the case in court and that is in the works.

    It is imperative we win, because the ACC has now asked EPCOR to submit a water consolidation plan to them for their 11 water districts. If the ACC approves that, it will make the waste water case look like child's play.

    In accordance with state statutes EPCOR has to hold open meetings where the residents are impacted. The first is next Monday, here are the details:
    When:
    Monday, October 30
    Time:
    1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
    4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
    Where:
    Sundial Center
    14801 N 103rd Avenue

    It is important that Sun City residents show up and let EPCOR know how much we dislike this. They will blame the ACC and tell us they are just doing what the commissioners are asking for. The reality is, this is exactly what they want.

    And so we are clear on the politics of this; all 5 commissioners are Republicans. Bob Short was the only dissenting vote in the waste water case. The two democrats that ran in the race where against it and the dark money that flooded the election (Bob Short also spoke out about the dark money).

    This course was set when Andy Tobin, long time right wing hack, was elected. His goal was to take care of outlying areas and the builders in those communities. The long standing law was that users paid the rates in accordance with the delivery of the utilities they needed.

    Andy saw a way to take care of those builders (who contribute large dollars to political campaigns) and the people living out there. All of our rates were based on usage, but Tobin and the rest of the ACC saw Sun City, Youngtown and Sun City West as a way to lower everyone costs by raising ours.

    It's little more than a builder bailout, because they went out where land was cheap but delivering services was costly. The builders would carry the costs until they sold out, but then the buyers were left with actual costs and they were high.

    EPCOR wins because they will enjoy the economy of scale of now having a single district. The builders win and those living in outlying areas will get dramatically lower costs. The only losers will be Sun City where by the time the phase ins are done, we will be looking at water bills that will be around $100 a month.

    Hope that helps and if you have the chance, stop by the Sun Dial auditorium this Monday.
     
  3. Ida Eisert

    Ida Eisert Guest

    Bill,

    Quoting you:

    The dissenting Commissioner was Bob Burns for the record.
     
  4. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    Thanks Ida, i think Bob Short was the owner of the MN Twins when i was living there. Bob was a bull dog on the dirty money that was shoveled at candidates that supported APS increases. Senility is a fact of life eh?
     
  5. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    Just a quick reminder about the meetings on Monday. Attend one or both and lets not act like we think this is acceptable.
     
  6. SCR

    SCR Active Member

    So......How was the turnout at either or both sessions?
     
  7. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    Great question SCR and one i will answer in a new thread. I only went to the first meeting and they had a little over a 100 folks there. Anyone go to the second?
     
  8. SCR

    SCR Active Member

    100 people is not a very good turnout. Hope there were more in the second session.
    There is opposition to this rate increase from Chaparral, North Mohave, and Agua Fria.
     
  9. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    I'm not sure why there would be opposition from those three districts, all of them after the 5 year phase in plan would see reductions from where their stand-alone rate would be today. Only one of the three would see a slight increase in what would be their stand-alone rate today compared to their year 1 phase in rate (that's Chaparral City that goes up from $54.05 to $54.41).

    The only reason i see them arguing is they don't like the five year phase in and want the adjustment all right now.

    I am curious your take on the argument EPCOR is making about how we would get crushed by actual costs if we remained in a stand-alone setting. You can find it here.
     
  10. SCR

    SCR Active Member

    Chaparral is complaining because they recently had an increase and do not want another. Also, I think they are against the proposed stand alone rate.

    As for EPCORS statement that we would be crushed in a stand alone scenario,
    I do believe that based upon the age of our water delivery infrastructure that repairs and maintenance is required.

    However, just stating that 71million in infrastructure repairs are needed over 10 years is not very informative.
    Where are repairs needed? Why haven’t they be done before this? When will these repairs/maintenance be scheduled to begin? How will this improve my water service and delivery? When was the last infrastructure failure in Sun City?
    Will rate payers receive notice of infrastructure repairs/maintenance, where they are being done, why are they being done, and when they are being done? As we are paying for all these repairs/maintenance we should be informed through formal notification so that we know where our money is being spent.
     
  11. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    It's funny you say that because i followed a thread from an article on the water consolidation in one of the local papers and the folks in Anthem where whining. They thought it was grossly unfair those of us in Sun City didn't want to start subsidizing them right away with the full blow. All of your questions are spot on, sadly we are being taken the fool as EPCOR just says crap and we are supposed to swallow it. Still doesn't explain how others are getting more costly improvements but are getting reductions. Totally illogical.
     
  12. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    There's 8 districts getting relief by the 5th year of the phase in: Aqua Fria, Anthem, Chaparral City, Havasu, North Mohave, Paradise Valley, Tubac and Willow Valley.
     
  13. Cynthia

    Cynthia Well-Known Member

    $100 a month water bills will affect future sales. I might have thought twice about it myself. One of the reasons I decided on SC is I thought living here would be cheaper. Only housing and gas prices are from my experience so far. Who would have thought L.A. utilities are less.
     
  14. BruceW

    BruceW Active Member

    So the question in my mind, are all the districts going to be paying the same rate? If EPCOR is consolidating multiple districts then everyone in the bigger whole should be paying the same rate per unit. if not where is the fairness? Logic says if you consolidate you should get a better rate over the whole. Unfortunately that means some like Sun City may pay more than they have in the past while some others that had higher rates due to being in a new build area will now enjoy a bit lower rate. It is just aggravating when the more established areas have to chip in to support the new build areas.
    Will this all stop me from buying in Sun City in the near future... not at all. It will be just another pet peeve to gripe about along with spending tons of community money on Golf. ;)
     

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