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Keyes facing whopping sewer rate increase of $37 per month
Keyes sewer increase letter
This letter went out to Keyes residents notifying them of a pending rate hike of $37 month and ways they can protest. - photo by Contributed

Residents of Keyes are facing a whopping sewer rate increase of $37 per month with a protest hearing scheduled for next month.

Currently residents in Keyes are paying $64.23 per month – a rate which has been in place for about 10 years – and jumps to a proposed $101.23.

The Keyes Community Services District provides water and sewer service to those living in Keyes and announced recently that the $37 wastewater rate hike is “necessary due to increased operating expenses, including significantly higher treatment charges from the city of Turlock, which processes the district’s wastewater.” A letter to residents stated that the rate hike is “essential to maintain a financially stable and compliant wastewater system.”

Keyes has no wastewater treatment plant and through a contract with the city of Turlock, sends its’ effluent to the treatment plant in Turlock. The Turlock plant also accepts waste from the city of Ceres and the unincorporated town of Denair.

A protest hearing is set for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, August 26 at the Keyes Community Center, 5506 Jennie Avenue in Keyes.

Proposition 216, adopted in 1996, requires government entities in California which want to raise fees for water, sewer and solid waste to hold a protest hearing. Those protests are rarely successful because at least 50 percent plus one of voters must submit valid written protests and getting half of a community to do so is extremely difficult due to community apathy. The KCSD mailed out protest forms recently.

Only one protest form may be submitted per parcel and include the name of the person protesting, the parcel number or service address and signed by the property owner or ratepayer of record.

The news of the forthcoming increase drew flak from Keyes residents, among them Laura Angelica Ramirez who posted on social media: “Insane increase! We can barely make ends meet with living expenses rising all the time. Forty dollars is too much. Definitely a NO.”

One resident posted on social media that the district did not send out the mailers within the legally prescribed time frame. The Courier reached out to KCSD general manager Ernie Garza who refused to answer questions. Board member Jonathan Parker called back but also refused to answer questions, saying the flyer that went to residents had all the pertinent information.