The Rohnert Park Utility Consumers Coalition is the group that drafted and won passage of the Measure L sewer rate in 2008. Measure L passed without any organized campaign in its favor and in spite of a campaign against it that featured two television ads and a number of slick mailers. Measure L is now Rohnert Park Ordinance Number 800. This campaign against measure L was paid for entirely by developers. (link to campaign spending disclosure) One of those developers, Codding, recently received a gift of $880,000 in Rohnert Park redevelopment money. Codding immediately returned the favor by financing the campaign of Pam Stafford and Ami Ahonotu for the city council. That money should have been used to make physical improvements in the Rohnert Park neighborhoods that were declared "blighted" in order to create the redevelopment agency.
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The reason that development interests financed the campaign against Measure L is our sewer fees are used to provide sewer infrastructure for developers. Two sections of the Rohnert park Municipal Code (RPMC) specifically state that the city's sewer rates shall be set high enough not only to cover the costs of operating and maintaining the sewer system, but to expand it as well. (Link to RPMC 13.42.030 and 13.42.035) Developers will say that they pay public facilities (also called impact fees) fees for this infrastructure. Even if the public facilities fees are adequate to cover this cost, the fee is not paid until a building permit is issued. (Link to RPMC 3.28.060) Somebody has to finance the construction of the sewer infrastructure before the building permit is issued. That somebody is the people of Rohnert Park. Moreover, in large developments such as those currently planned for the east side of the city, not all the building permits will be issued even in the first year due to the city's growth management ordinance. However, the sewer infrastructure will have to be in place before the first permit can be issued. We will be holding the bag over the many years that these new subdivisions are constructed and sold. Measure L cut off the ability of the city to finance these new sewer plants, pipelines and pumping stations for the three large developments on the eastside of the city.
The city council does not believe that the public will support raising sewer rates. Therefore the Rohnert Park city council has decided to raise our sewer rates without a vote of the people. This is a violation of section 9217 of the Elections Code , which requires a vote of the people before and ordinance passed through the initiative process, such as Measure L, can be repealed or modified. The initiative process exists to provide a mechanism so that the people can overrule their elected representatives when the people decide that those representatives are serving special interests rather than the interests of the people. It would destroy the process if city councils could repeal or alter a measure enacted by the initiative process.
Since Measure L went into effect two in January, 2009, it has saved Rohnert Park sewer ratepayers approximately $6,000,000. This comes to about $1,200 per residential customer. It has saved commercial customers even more, helping to keep jobs in Rohnert Park. Prior to the passage of Measure L, one four plex, single story office building we know of was getting a utility bill of $1,200 every two months.
While the City of Rohnert Park claims to the public to be driven to the edge of bankruptcy by Measure L, the City published a financial statement in The Community Voice that reported "excess revenues" of $2,017,432 from public utilities. (link to financial statement) If the city is being driven to the edge of bankruptcy by Measure L, it is overcharging enough for water and garbage to cover that loss and make a tidy profit.