Oak Park drowning in high water rates

Why do we in Oak Park pay much higher rates and charges for recycled water from Triunfo Sanitation District than the folks in Lake Sherwood?

I had assumed that Triunfo’s rates were the same for everybody, but found that was not so, when looking through a Triunfo budget packet.

According to ordinance TSD51, adopted by the Triunfo board in 2000, there are two charges for recycled water, one for meter size and the other for water quantity. Of the seven different meter sizes, Oak Park pays more than Lake Sherwood for every one.

For water quantity, Oak Park has only two breakdowns: one for under three HCF (100 cubic feet) at $1.54 and one for over three HCF at $1.90 (amounts rounded off).

Lake Sherwood, however, has different quantity prices for each meter size, price breakdowns for three different water quantities for each meter size, and further differences in price, depending on whether it is in high-demand or low-demand season.

To compare, for a six-inch meter, Oak Park would pay $1.93 per HCF for a quantity of between three to 1,980 HCF during high demand, while Lake Sherwood would pay only $1 per HCF for 1,980 HCF.

I think this needs looking into because users of recycled water include Oak Park Unified School District, Rancho Simi Park District and Ventura County for landscape maintenance in Oak Park. For instance, in the proposed Ventura County/Oak Park yearly budget starting in July 2005, the total landscape irrigation cost is $173,000. That is 22.8 percent of the total Oak Park budget of $758,400.

If we could save money on irrigation, it could be used in other, much needed areas.

I believe we need fairness in water rates and not breaks for wealthier communities.

Please Triunfo board members, remedy this inequity so that Oak Park pays the same as Lake Sherwood for recycled water. Janna Orkney Oak Park