Seal Beach water and sewer rates will increase effective Aug. 1, 2025, up to 2029.
Following a public hearing, the council on Monday, Aug. 11, voted 3 to 2 to increase water and sewer rates. District Four Councilwoman Patty Senecal and District Three Councilwoman/Mayor Lisa Landau cast the dissenting votes. Senecal said, “Hard no.”
The city approved option 1, which includes all recommended improvement projects to the water and sewer system.
The matter was the last item on the agenda of a meeting that lasted not quite 2 hours and 42 minutes. As the meeting ended, a man in the audience stood up and yelled at District Two Councilman Ben Wong.
In addition to voting in favor of the new water and sewer rates, Wong cast a “no” vote against a proposal that would have postponed a decision until staff could come back with a new set of rates based on fewer improvement projects for the city’s water and sewer system. (For more on that, keep reading.)
Twelve members of the public spoke against the water and sewer rate changes during the public hearing. None of the 12 speakers favored the proposed rate changes. The issues they raised included concerns about debt, whether funds would go to projects or to salaries, and the economic impact of the rates.
However, under Prop. 218 rules, only written protests from parcel owners could be counted. If the city received 50% plus one protests then the council could not change the rates. The count did not reach 50% plus one.
Protest counts
Deputy City Clerk Brandon DeCriscio provided the council with the final count of written protests.
According to DeCriscio, the city received 431 written protests against water service rate adjustments. The parcel count: 5,614.
According to DeCriscio, the city received 426 written protests against sewer rate adjustments. The parcel count: 5,076.
Following each count, DeCriscio said the number of written protests did not constitute a majority protest.
Alternative voted down
Senecal, expressing concern for the financial impact on single family homes, moved for an alternative she called “option three,” which would have:
• Reduced the number of improvement projects from 11 to five
• Had staff come back with revised rate changes based on the reduced number of projects
• Come back to council with a request for proposals in six months.
Councilman Wong seconded Senecal’s motion.
Senecal said the debt was too high, apparently referring to the debt service that figured into the rate adjustments recommended by the city’s consultant.
Landau said the council should listen to how the residents feel. “I believe the rate increase from the smaller number of projects is more sustainable for our residents, especially our lower income,” residents, Landau said.
Landau expressed concern about rates charged to multi-unit properties including Leisure World as well as the Navy base.
Landau also said the city should have had rate increases two years ago. (A previous City Council reduced wastewater revenue by 25% in, according to the Water and Wastewater Rate Study Final Report of Jan. 4, 2021.)
Wong asked if the city could pay off its loans if the council went with option 3.
Public Works Director Iris Lee said the city would not be able to pay off the loans that were contemplated.
Following lengthy discussion among the council members, Senecal called the question.
Senecal and Landau voted yes. District One Council Member Joe Kalmick, District Five Councilman Nathan Steele, and Wong voted no.
Then the council voted on the staff recommendation and approved the water and sewer rates as originally proposed.
City Attorney Nick Ghirelli said the motion would not change the debt service in the rate study.
Council discussion
The following is not a transcript but highlights from some of the council comments during the meeting.
Steele gave a slide presentation to go along with his comments. He said Leisure World pays the same price per volume as the rest of Seal Beach.
“The utility has to pay for itself,” Steele said.
He said the city had been working on the water and sewer rates since May. (Last year the council considered water and sewer rates but postponed action on the matter.)
Steele, citing a recent city audit, said the city lost $1.7 million in utility services.
He said ignoring the advice of the professionals the city pays would be irresponsible.
He said there had been three water main breaks in the past two years.
“All of our reserves have been exhausted,” Steele said.
According to Steele, it would cost less to fix the water and sewer systems now rather than wait five years.
Mayor Landau said the city should explore “option 3”, a reference to Senecal’s proposal.
Kalmick said cutting back on improvement projects looks wise on paper, but in reality those were ticking time bombs. He asked what happens if one of the deferred projects fails.
Kalmick said he was bothered by the assumption that the council should ignore what staff and consultants say with any value.
“I don’t want to be sitting here and have two more breaks in that one—one [holding up a finger] main,” Kalmick said.
He said he wasn’t happy about “option 1,” it was expensive, and if there was a way to modify that without jeopardizing the city’s infrastructure even more, he was listening.
Wong asked about safeguards.
Lee said the city can’t take out a loan and put the money in reserves. The money has to be for a specific project and done within a specified period of time.
Background
“The City’s last rate adjustment and cost of service study was approved in February 2021; however, the rates are no longer sufficient to balance ongoing operating costs, according to the staff report by Public Works Director Iris Lee.
According to city records, in 2021 the council approved a 25% decrease in water and sewer rates.
Some residents have questioned the need for the water and sewer rate increases. They have raised concerns about the city’s debt load from proposed water and sewer improvement projects. (See “Some residents raise concerns about debt,” at sunnews.org.)
“The City retained Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc. (Raftelis) to conduct a Water and Wastewater Financial Plan and Rate Study (2025 Financial Plan), utilizing the existing rate structures, to develop a financial plan and proposed rates for the water and sewer utilities. The objective of the 2025 Financial Plan is to ensure revenues are sufficient to pay or provide for operation and maintenance, capital improvement projects, adequate debt service coverage ratios, and sufficient reserves,” Lee wrote.
“The 2025 Financial Plan considered reserve policies, capital investment requirements for the aging infrastructure to ensure system reliability, inflationary cost increases, current and future State mandates, and health and safety requirements. On May 12, 2025, an overview of the draft 2025 Financial Plan, including analysis results and recommendations for proposed water and sewer rate adjustments, was presented to the City Council,” Lee wrote.
Water rates
“Based on Raftelis’ detailed financial plan analysis, the February 2021 rate
adjustments are no longer sufficient to balance the operating costs due to:
“1. Increased wholesale import and groundwater costs;
“2. Aging infrastructure and deferred maintenance;
“3. Overall inflationary impacts; and,
“4. On-going introduction of new legislation,” Lee wrote.
Sewer rates
“The current sewer rate structures will remain the same.
“• Single Family Residential: fixed charge;
“• Other Customer Classes: fixed charge plus volumetric rate based on water consumption.
“The table below illustrates the proposed rate and charge increases for the next five (5) years. These adjustments were calculated by forecasting revenue, expenses and reserves to establish adequate cost-to-debt ratio,” Lee wrote
