Lodi water rate critics gearing up for petition

The leader of the effort, Lodi resident Jane Lea, decided to pursue such an initiative after the council's decision because she feels the increase is an unjustified tax levied by the city unfairly.

She said she had to iron out another draft of the initiative Thursday night, but should be able to drop a finished version off at City Hall early this morning.

If the initiative backers can gather enough signatures, it could be on the November ballot.

Revenue from the water rate increase, passed by the council in September, will go toward cleaning Lodi's groundwater contamination. The city is hoping to raise more than $45 million with three rate hikes that will increase the average rate $10.50 by July 2007. One of Lea's supporters, Manteca activist Georgianna Reichelt, appeared with Lea and other initiative supporters on the steps of City Hall on Thursday.

In a phone interview later that day, Reichelt said she believes businesses that caused the contamination should pay for the cleanup and not Lodi residents.

Reichelt, a Manteca resident, said she became involved with the protest because she's friends with Lea and an activist on issues throughout the region.

She said the rate increase unfairly placed the burden on the shoulders of Lodi residents who didn't have a role in creating the problem.

In the late 1990s, the city began a lawsuit against downtown businesses, including the Lodi News-Sentinel, and their insurance carriers. Last year, after several legal twists and turns the city attorney and council decided Lodi couldn't cover the cost of continuing suit with the settlements it expected to receive and decided to go toward a rate increase to cover the bulk of the cleanup costs.

Reichelt, however, argued some local businesses that did settle should still be on the hook for the cleanup costs.

"All of that contamination cleanup should be done by the businesses; the people who created the mess," she said. "I think the Lodi (News-) Sentinel should cough up a lot more money."

To get on the November ballot

• A ballot initiative to overturn the city of Lodi's water rate increase was expected to be filed today.
• Supporters of the initiative now have to collect, at the least, the signatures of 2,765 registered Lodi voters.
• Those signatures need to then be turned in to Lodi City Clerk Susan Blackston, who recommends supporters do that by May.
• After being turned in to the city, Blackston and the county then will have to verify the signatures.
• Once verified, the initiative would go before the Lodi City Council whose members could decide to challenge the initiative or allow it to go to voters in the next election.
• To get on the November ballot, the initiative's backers need to get a verified copy to the county by Aug. 11.
— Source: Lodi City Clerk's Office.

Reichelt and Lea previously linked up a few years ago to defeat a proposed redevelopment agency in Lodi.

City Clerk Susan Blackston said Thursday the initiative's backers need to gather at least 2,765 signatures for the initiative to get on the ballot. Those signatures also need to be from registered Lodi voters.

It shouldn't be a challenge, Lea and other water rate opponents were able to drum up nearly 4,000 protests in the weeks leading up to the council's vote on the increase.

Once verified, the initiative will also go before the council that could decide to challenge the initiative's legal standing.

City Attorney Stephen Schwabauer said Thursday he hadn't seen a finished copy of the initiative so it was too early to say what action he may recommend to the council.

He said the city has the legal right to charge residents for the cost of providing a utility service. In this case, the cost of cleaning up Lodi's water supply is a legitimate cost to pass along to residents.

"If PG&E went out and spilled pollution, they'd be able to cover the cost of cleanup in their rates," Schwabauer said. "The cleanup is part of doing business."

Schwabauer added that if the water rate increase is overturned, the city would have to make deep cuts to pay for the cleanup.

"We would have to lop off a number of programs; things like Sunday hours at the library, school programs, some number of police officers (and) some number of firefighters," he said.

Council members JoAnne Mounce and John Beckman voted against the increase in September.

Mounce said Thursday she would be more than willing to take a serious look at the initiative and listen to its supporters.

"If the people of this community have voiced their opinion and endorsed an initiative, I'm going to listen," she said. "There's enough people in City Hall to support City Hall. My agenda is the peoples' agenda, and I can't support that enough."

Contact reporter Andrew Adams at andrewa@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

Dixon Flynn wrote on Feb 12, 2006 1:20 PM:

" Well, BDG keep reading and it will finally dawn on you that it was not Dixon Flynn, but the City Council made up of Hitchcock, Beckman and Hansen who set the cities policy. Now they want to shift the blame "

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