Keep the Water/Sewer rates as low as possible.

The City Council doubles as the Water Board and approves changes to the water and sewer rates.   Poway is in the early stages of a ~$70 million upgrade to its water treatment infrastructure, which was built in the mid 1960's.  Poway has historically had average water rates in the lower 1/3rd compared to other water agencies across San Diego County.  For longer than I care to remember, I have advocated to the City that we maintain this position.  On the City Council, I will work to ensure that we all receive good value for this infrastructure investment that we are making in our water system, and will keep our rates as low as possible.

I am a big believer in capital expenditures (CapEx) to reduce operational expenditures (OpEx), if there is a reasonable timeframe for the return on investment (ROI).  Prior to this treatment plant upgrade, the Water and Sewer departments were spending a combined ~$700K/year in electricity costs, mostly for pumping.  Is this current capital improvement project the right time to explore adding a solar system to decouple these operational expenses from external suppliers?  If it has an ROI in the 10-15 year range, I think it's worth exploring.  If elected, I will work with the City to see if this is a path forward we can take.