Opinion: Rise and Runnels right for STPUD
To the community,
My name is Ernie Claudio and I was on the STPUD board of directors for two years in 2007. The only candidates I met while on the board were Dale Rise and John Runnels. These two candidates have proven their ability to say “No” to the STPUD management.
STPUD or the district is a multimillion-dollar organization with dreams of becoming even bigger by increasing water rates. We need candidates who can say, “No, economic times are bad, people are struggling, give the citizens a break and put your growth on hold for awhile.”
The district’s strategy is, “Ask for high rates and see if anybody complains.” “If the people don’t complain, then we will raise the rates.” We need to complain. If there are a lot of complaints, then the board of directors will not let the district increase the water rates. We need Mr. Rise and Mr. Runnels on the board because they are the only candidates who have proven they’re ability to stand up to the powerful district management.
I have a water meter and my bill jumped up by $120. At this rate, my water bill will increase by more than $400 a year. We need to organize. There is a local group called The Citizens for Responsible Government. This group successfully stopped the Business Improve District tax proposed in 2004. This group is thinking of holding a public meeting to see how many people are not in favor of this rate increase.
Meanwhile, we need to show up at every STPUD meeting and speak for three minutes at the beginning of the meeting, the meetings start at 2pm on the first and third Thursdays. Show up, speak and be on our way home by 2:30pm.
See you at the next meeting.
Ernie Claudio, South Lake Tahoe
Ernie I agree with almost everything you stated with the exception of one thing.This current board needs to be replaced they have been there to long and it is time for a new direction for The STPUD district and in my opinion it will take new board members to accomplish the necessary changes.
If my memory serves me correctly, whenever the District is considering raising rates, they are required to send a letter to every single customer informing them of the proposed rate increase with a request for customers to respond. The District then holds Public Meetings so that customers can voice their opinions. If Claudio would bother to check, only a handful of customers (under 200 out of 19,000)do protest the proposed rate increase.
If my memory continues to serve me correctly, the proposed rate increase 2 years ago was reduced from 4% to 2% because the Board did listen to the small handful of customers protesting the rate increase. I believe Mr. Rise was sitting on the Board at that time and voted for the 2% increase.
As far as Claudio’s rant on his increased water rates, one should be asking him if he uses a lot of water. The latest bill does have the summer water consumption on it, and everyone I have spoken with who has a lawn has experienced a larger bill due to the amount of water used.
Instead of screaming about how high the cost is to irrigate during the summer, why aren’t they more concerned with the amount water they actually used?
We have been spoiled up here because we have never had to be accountable for our water consumption. Everyone uses more water then they thought, especially on landscape. Those that govern California decided that communities who pay for their consumption are more conservative than communities that do not. And they are right. We who live here and have become accustomed to turning on the hoses and not worrying about the cost (or how much we were actually using) are now forced to face the reality of our water usage.
No one is happy about this situation, including me, whose October water bill was extremely high, but instead of blaming STPUD
Hit the Submit button by accident. Let me just finish by saying, that instead of blaming STPUD and its employees, I think we all need to take a long hard look at our individual water consumption and start making changes.
Lee
I disagree with you the state mandated water meters and not what water rates should be, Our water rates are very high and The STPUD board put those high rates into effect. In addition water rates should not be this much higher than are charged for flat rate users.
As a lawn care business i was shocked by new rates. $600 for a 3 months on one of my clients homes, $400 on others. We have always watered minimum and abide by 3 day a week watering.
Lawns will be a thing of the past here in Tahoe. (good, bad you make the call).
At these prices my clients are paying more for water than gas, electricity or my fees to maintain.
Agree we need to conserve and change some ways in landscaping but i see daily the excess water running off the hill naturally from gardner mtn. water water tanks. How valuable is it?
We are now going to dedicate our irrigation skills to ” finely tune all irrigation systems”
Are we hurting for water or gouging the public?
We went from open watering to mandated 3 times a week watering only a few years ago (6?)
How dire is the water capacity to charge this much……..
Zeroscape landscaping anyone?
All I can say is that Water rates 30 years ago were $125 a year, There is no shortage of water at Tahoe. Only a greedy Public Utility District, High wages and an incompetent board.
X LOCAL is correct there is No Water Shortage in Tahoe !!
All the water we do save flows into Nevada.
The Lake Tahoe basin is Not part of the California water system.
The STPUD management went to Sacramento in 2008 and asked the Senators to give us an exemption and the Senators refused. The Senators are Wrong. The STPUD management knows the Senators are wrong.
If The STPUD management refuses to reduce the metered water rathat, then they will have a fight on their hands. The citizens of South Lake Tahoe will join together and hire an attorney and stop the District just like we stopped the BID tax in 2004.
Please remember STPUD is not our friend.
Most folks cannot attend all, if any of the public meetings…either working or looking for a job! It would be a full-time job to attend all the meetings re: bad government decisions these days. Send us a postcard with the option to check a box & send back:
+/- $ increase. STPUD needs new players to work smarter and recognize we are in a frightening economy. And, I’m no one is blaming the employees…. it’s management that makes these decisions.
I vote for Claude and Kelly!!!
Please vote for:
RUNNELS & RISE
John,
I understand why you feel the rates are high, and they certainly feel that way after getting my summer consumption, however, the other 3 quarters of the year my quarterly cost fell between $15 and $30 some dollars less than what I was paying under the flat rate. I think it will average out to me actually paying maybe $30 to $40 more a year, but only because of my summer watering.
I paid attention to what my consumption read was for the 2010 summer and did try to reduce the consumption this year. I cut back on the amount of time I was watering this year, and none of my plants, trees or even yard appeared to suffered. I cut my consumption from last summer by nearly 9000 cf.
I still think most of us use more water than we think we do. STPUD charges $2.05 per 100 cf; there are 748 gallons in a 100 cf. When you think of it in those terms and look at your consumption levels, that is a lot of water.
One of the candidates, or possibly Claudio has said STPUD has the second highest rate for California. I went on to the Cal Water site and found many more counties that are charging more than that. STPUD apperas to have the lowest consumption rate around the lake. I know that doesn’t lessen the impact we are all feeling, but I don’t have the anger towards STPUD as so many do. I lived in San Diego for many years and water down there is way more expensive than up here.
Runnels is running saying he will lower our rates, when was the last time you heard a politian say that and actually make it happen?
Utilities cost, whether is it electric, gas or cable tv. I have to wonder if the same people who have complained on this site about their high water costs due to summer consumption complain to the electric and gas companies during the winter months? I think we all try to keep our heating costs down, but we still want to stay warm, so we pay more. Unfortunately, we now have to pay more for our water if we use a lot.
It would be interesting to see how the AB2572 bill that Assembly member Christine Kehoe wrote and got made into a law affected her personally.
Bottom line, I am mistrustful of Claudio when he says we should vote for Rise and Runnels because they are the only ones who can say “No.” All the candidates said they were against rate hikes. Rise has been on the STPUD Board for 4 years and there have been rate increases during his time. I am also mistrustful of someone like Claudio who backs a candidate like Rise who apparently has anger problems that have been made very public.
I find Sheehan, Gunsch or Vogelgesang to be the more stable and rational candidates.
The problem in TaxaCalifornia is that when you see the pensions and the pay levels the civil servants and agency bureaucrats are paid you realize that they cost far more then they are worth.
It’s that simple – over paid, under performing arrogant pigs at the top. The rank and file and the citizens are gettin – well – I can’t say it here.
I moved out I’ll let them wither and rot in the cesspool they made.
SHAME ON THEM – Call them out
Naw I think Claude and Kelly are good!
As for Claudio get your facts straight!
Vote for Rise? He seems to keep having run in’s with the law and management at STPUD. If this is the kind of person you want, how about a Dale Rise/ Joe Scanio ticket?