Thank you, Council Member Greg Tanaka

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We have an abominable garbage service and the tax (since we have no choice but to pay it) is basically a case of holding the residents to ransom.

The water increase is basically their way of not giving us back the drought surcharge.

Can I say I am not surprised.

When we had a drought The Water Companies raised and put strong and exaggerated rules but when we had a lot of rain they didn't low the rate ! I really was waiting for that! But it is obvious that they spent the extra money in stupid adds for saving water and I couldn't SAVE MY MONEY!!! No fair!!!!

Can I expect to get consistent water pressure moving forward? Some days it's a trickle, other days somewhat better, but never strong.

Even Sunnyvale has given GreenWaste the boot after years of poor service and numerous complaints!

GreenWaste doesn't deserve a single penny more for what lousy service we get: broken receptacles, trash strewn up and down the street, snarky employees, receptacles left unemptied, emails and phone calls unreturned, etc!

The Utility Dept doesn't deserve another increase, they have had several already. Wait and see if another drought appears in a couple of years, first!

Hey, anyone see the movie "Groundhog Day"? Every year it's the same thing happening over and over again from our city's utility dept - raise garbage rates, raise water rates, raise electricity rates, etc. But what can citizen really do? I feel helpless here.

Milpitas charges: $5.13+$1.30 (capital surcharge) = $6.63 per HCF (hundred cubic feet).

Palo Alto's rates: $6.73 for the first 6 HCF. $10.03 per HCF thereafter.

And that's before the 6% increase!

Can you say gratuitous pensions? I knew you could.

Oh, and BTW, that's for the exact same Hetch Hetchy water going through a delivery system of similar vintage.

We are a very wealthy city. Why do we have to pay more for anything much less water?

-Jason

Hi all. I grew up in Palo Alto and graduated from Gunn last yea. I have never been in charge of paying the utilities bill, but I do see it.

@38 year resident If you are having troubles with your water pressure have you reached out to utilities about it? Or are you just complaining on a public forum without actually having attempted to take any action? Just wondering. If you've reached out to them I'd love to hear what they said.

@Damn! Sorry you've had bad experience with GreenWaste. That's rough. You can try and voice that concern more in the future when the city is picking a new hauler (in a few years?) Sunnyvale has had the same waste hauler since 1927 so I don't know what you're on about there (Web Link

@PT Barnum I think the refuse fund is its own thing, not part of the General Fund. Could be the same for the water district, too. Composting ads through GreenWaste or Zero Waste seem like a refuse fund thing. And besides, composting is really important! The less we send to landfills the better things will be for my generation when we have to deal with all the closed landfills polluting the surrounding area through chemical percolation and methane production.

@SuperD and anyone else, really. If you're concerned about governmental spending then educate yourself on where money in the budget is going. A lot of that information will be public record and big projects are voted on by City Council. You aren't helpless. Council meetings are every Monday at 6 and the agendas are posted ahead of time. Become more engaged. Posting on Town Square isn't going to get anyone in government to pay attention to your concerns. Call. Email. Get your questioned answered. A lot of the costs we're covering actually make sense. If you read the article about water price hikes you'd find that it's based on what SF is charging for Hetch Hetchy water. It's expensive. We have some of the most expensive water in the entire country. But we also have some of the cleanest water in the country. We are one of 6 (?) water districts in the entire US that don't require additional filtration--so that also reflects *some* savings. Refuse rates cover GreenWaste daily trash pickup but they also cover stuff like clean up days, hazardous waste, maintaining the closed landfill, etc.

If you care enough, educate yourself.

Only 4 people wrote the city to oppose the rates out of 11k+ households, I believe was the number. Don't complain here unless you opposed to council.

In fact, the City Council will be discussing the budget for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2018 beginning July 1. It's probably too late to make a meaningful dent but in any case here's the proposed budgets.

Web Link
Web Link

@Young Palo Altan........ I have talked to city on numerous occasions and have been told that there is nothing they can do about the problem. If you take my comment as a complaint, you're correct. Given that direct contact with the city doesn't provide any insight to the problem, perhaps publicly posting my concern might offer a solution, unlike your somewhat condescending reply.

My apologies. I am used to interacting with other college students who are all talk and no walk. I still don't know how the public comment will help resolve anything, though.

@Super D -- Ground Hog Day is perfect! More money for less responsiveness.

@ Young Palo Altan (19) @I think the refuse fund is its own thing, not part of the General Fund. Could be the same for the water district, too. Composting ads through GreenWaste or Zero Waste seem like a refuse fund thing. And besides, composting is really important! The less we send to landfills the better things will be for my generation when we have to deal with all the closed landfills polluting the surrounding area through chemical percolation and methane production.

Refuse is one of the various utilities, fees, surcharges, usage taxes etc. itemized on our monthly utility bills from Palo Alto Utilities. When they run a profit, that gain is siphoned off into the General Fund to fund other expenses. The more increases, the more gain

Re compost, you want to compost, great. You don't, also fine. Preaching conservation and composting etc. is a joke when the city's mant5ra has been hyper-development. PA's compost campaign was such a bad joke that people irritated at being forced to pay $25 for an unwieldy compost bin that attracted vermin and whose use was confusing sent back their larger black cans in protest.

My understanding is that pipes that carry SF's water pass through Palo Alto.

Why is there no water transit tax? Or, in lieu of such a tax on water passing through PA, a deal for bargain rates?

Sunnyvale got rid of GreenWaste two years ago.

They have a different garbage company now.

They have NOT had the same company since 1927: I used to live there before they had GreenWaste. At one time they had Browning Ferris.

Sunnyvale has Specialty Waste Company since 2015. That's who my mom pays her bill to!

@res, those pipes were there before Palo Alto annexed the land.
Water rights are a peculiar thing.

Different subject: what about our recent water agreement with East Palo Alto?