Riverside council moves toward first sewer rate increase since 2017, with single-family bills rising from $39.59 to $55.19 by 2030

The Riverside City Council voted Sept. 22 to begin the formal process for raising sewer rates over five years, directing staff to mail notices to customers and schedule a public hearing.

The vote did not raise rates. Under Proposition 218, the hearing can be held no sooner than 45 days after the notices are mailed. No hearing date appears in the meeting minutes.

Councilmember Conder made the motion and Councilmember Mill seconded it. It passed unanimously; Councilmember Falcone was absent, according to minutes prepared by the city clerk. No one from the public spoke.

Mayor Lock Dawson was also absent, so Mayor Pro Tem Cervantes ran the meeting.

The proposed rates

A Public Works staff report proposes a system-wide average increase of 4.2% in January 2027. Average increases of 7.2% would follow every July through fiscal 2030-31.

For a single-family home that is not in a pumping zone, the monthly charge would go from $39.59 now to $41.36 on Jan. 1, 2027, and reach $55.19 on July 1, 2030.

For single-family homes in pumping zones, where sewage has to be pumped to the treatment plant, the charge would go from $45.73 to $47.51 in January and to $61.97 by July 2030. The report says 27% of residential customers are in a pumping zone.

Increases differ slightly by customer type because the plan relies on a new cost-of-service analysis.

Why staff says it is needed

Sewer rates have not gone up since fiscal 2017-18, the report says. The council approved 8.5% annual increases in 2014 but paused the last one in December 2017.

Since then the sewer fund has absorbed a 29% rise in operations and maintenance costs, according to the report.

The fund carries $251.9 million in outstanding bond debt as of Aug. 5. Bond covenants require net revenues of at least 110% of annual debt service.

Without higher rates, the report projects coverage near that minimum this fiscal year and under 100% beginning in fiscal 2028.

The report says about $588 million in projects from a 2019 master plan remain unfinished and that 55% of the collection system is more than 50 years old.

Postponing the first increase until July 1, 2027, would mean a 12.5% initial increase, staff wrote.

Mobile home rent cap

After its annual public hearing on mobile home park rent stabilization, the council directed staff to notify park owners and tenants' representatives that rents may rise no more than 2.56% in calendar year 2027.

That motion, by Mill with a second from Councilmember Hernandez, also passed unanimously while Falcone was absent. One person spoke at the hearing.

Also approved

The consent calendar included a five-year lease of cardiac monitors for Fire Department paramedics from Stryker Sales LLC, totaling $1,718,251.90, and a $1,248,739.50, three-year agreement with Data Ticket Inc. for administrative citation processing.

The minutes are a draft. They were attached to the council's Oct. 6 agenda and had not yet been approved.