On those recent occasions when I’ve pointed out that our water rates in the first year alone will rise anywhere from 27 to 64 percent, not the 14 percent figure the city claims, the reaction from city officials has been nothing short of bizarre.

The mayor himself told me the 14 percent figure always included the assumption that people would just routinely conserve by 20 percent and that he and his colleagues and city staff have always been very up-front with us about this.

In other words, there was no deception. Just an open and honest and transparent process that was easy for everyone to understand.

While I wish to give the mayor the benefit of the doubt, it still seems prudent to dig a little deeper since so many people in town have been stunned to learn that their actual new rates are dramatically higher than what the city promised.

And rather than argue about what was or wasn’t said at forums or whispered in the grocery store or written in unofficial spin-filled op-eds that may have been read by 5 percent of the population at best, much better to go to the official source for city of Davis facts and figures, the city’s own taxpayer-supported website.

So I’m there now, on the page labeled “Public Works Department,” ready to get the straight scoop about just how honest and up-front the city is being with its own citizens.

And there, under the heading “Utility Rate Increases,” and the sub-head “Water” and the further sub-head “Water Rate Ordinance as Adopted September 6, 2011,” I have picked up some valuable information.

Unfortunately for the mayor and his colleagues and all those city staffers parroting the party line, what I learned does not support the contention that the city has been straight with us about the 20 percent conservation element it claims is baked into the new rates. Tellingly, here’s what the city’s own website has to say about the water rate ordinance passed Sept. 6.

“The Davis City Council approved maximum water rate increases of 14 percent each year, for five years, for the typical single-family residential customer.”

Note that unmitigated word “maximum.” We can define it in the interest of clarity if you wish, but I think we all know what it means.

“Individual charges will vary depending on actual water use,” the city goes on, which seems obvious, but in any regard we have been assured by the city that the “maximum rate increase” will not go up by more than 14 percent, no matter how much water we use or don’t use.

Nowhere under “Utility Rate Increases” does the city even hint about 20 percent conservation being assumed in order to achieve that fictional 14 percent figure. It’s simply not mentioned.

So, the clear meaning of this statement is that if you’re paying a buck a gallon today, you’ll be paying $1.14 a gallon tomorrow. And just as obviously, your bill will vary depending on your actual usage, but your rate will remain fixed at a 14 percent annual increase for the next five years.

Unfortunately, and there’s no other way to say this, the city’s statement on our taxpayer-supported official city website is a flat-out lie. And if you can’t trust the city on something as fundamental and simple to state as a water rate, whom can you trust?

The plain truth is that in the very first year, which begins in just over two months, the city’s lowest rate, Tier I, will increase by 27 percent, from $1.50 per ccf to $1.90 per ccf. You can do the math yourself.

And for those in Tier II, rates will increase anywhere from 29.5 percent to 64 percent come January.

Your personal water bill, obviously, will vary depending on how many ccf you use in either Tier I or Tier II, but those are the rates.

And the deception continues unabated in ensuing years. For instance, in Year 2, Tier I water goes from $1.90 per ccf to $2.28, which is a 20 percent increase, not 14 percent. And that’s on top of the 27 percent increase in the first year. In fact, Tier I rate increases in all five years exceed the 14 percent the city claims.

Sadly, there is no rate anywhere for anyone that increases by just 14 percent at any time in any year in either Tier I or Tier II, which are the only tiers the city has. It’s a fictional number made up out of thin air that has no relation to reality, and why the city of Davis thought it could get away with this intentional misstatement of critical facts in the Second Most Educated City in America is anyone’s guess.

I’d like especially to point out to those in charge that this is not just fun and games for many of us. Our water rates are not “incidentals” that have little or no impact on family budgets. To deceive us in such a manner on such a critical issue is nothing short of criminal.

We rely on you to tell us the truth, then let us deal with that truth as best we can.

In this case, you have dramatically failed us.

— Reach Bob Dunning at [email protected] Comment on this column at www.davisenterprise.com

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