 |
| Link here |
You probably didn't notice that you recently received a Proposition 218 notice from the county sanitation guys offering you the opportunity to protest their raising your sewage processing rates again. It doesn't go into too much detail because by law they only have to provide you with a minimum amount of information. And what they sent you truly is the minimum amount of information.
 |
As in all things involving the sanitation district, don't hold your breath.
There are actually 24 LA County Sanitation Districts altogether, and 15 of them fervently wish to raise your rates. Sierra Madre is in District 15. So is the City of Arcadia.
If you didn't know that it is OK. Nobody is going to think poorly of you. Believe me, very few people are aware of this stuff.
Los Angeles County Sanitation District #15 feels it needs more money again. And while in that bromidic Prop 218 mailer you received they don't go into much actual detail, I did find a letter online that sheds some light on the situation. If you care to do so you can read it by clicking here.
It is quite a lengthy stemwinder, and I am not certain the justifications for raising rates again are all that substantial or convincing. You might agree with me, or perhaps not.
After many thousands of unpurified gallons of arduous reading you will get to the part of that letter where they spell out what this increase is actually going to be. In order to save you an unpleasant journey through a true dense pack of bureaucratic justification and gibberish, here are the actual rate increase numbers.
JOS stands for Joint Outfall System, something that will have little meaning to most English speakers. However, it does typify the kinds of language used in the letter I linked you with above. I think JOS means your total household cost including the increase.
Special Tattler bonus points for anyone who can shed some light on what "Diversifying Biosolids Management for Reliability" means. It could be a metaphor.
I have discovered another reason why your rates could be going up. One that I believe might be more to the point. Los Angeles County Sanitation District #15 doesn't spell this part out for you, but I will. Here is the name and signature of the person who runs the county sanitation district Sierra Madre and Arcadia swim in.
According to Transparent California (link), here is what Grace R. Hyde makes every year. More or less.
Here is what David Bruns makes.
These numbers seem somewhat excessive to me. Remember, that is for only two employees out of the thousands of results found, and for all 24 county sanitation districts. Go to that Transparent California link and check this out for yourself.
And while you're there, check out what LA County Sanitation District employees make when they retire. The CalPERS gravy train has everything handled (link).
You might want to send in that Prop 218 protest form. Just to show you care.
sierramadretattler.blogspot.com