Save Newport Real News in Newport Beach
Remember Newport’s water supply that we’ve been writing about for years? The one where we could get cleaner water from Costa Mesa at half the cost?
Instead of cutting your water bill in half and providing cleaner water while eliminating $45 million in ongoing line maintenance costs for our city on line repairs and employees, Newport Beach City Council is now set to consider nearly DOUBLING your water rates for that same water that isn’t even as clean as Costa Mesa’s— that’s right, you’ll be paying nearly 4x as much as our neighbors for water that isn’t as clean.
Here are the specific breakdowns from that list above:
And here is the letter warning residents that this is about to happen:
If you wish to have cleaner, cheaper water, rather than dirtier water at 4x the rate of our neighbors in Costa Mesa, then show up at the next city council meeting next Tuesday, the 19th of November, at 100 Civic Center Dr, Newport Beach, CA 92660. The meeting starts at 7pm and simply ask “Why aren’t we partnering with the cleaner, cheaper water from MesaWater rather than paying 4x that rate for water that isn’t as clean?”
In addition to having cleaner water, this would also outsource the maintenance of our existing (aging) infrastructure, saving Newport $45m in the coming years. It would also allow us to replace retiring city employees with our internal water employees, thereby lowering our unfunded pension liability which increases by the day and is already up to $1.3billion in unfunded obligations– in a city that only has $250m in income (and spends it all)
If you want cleaner water for your family, if you want cheaper water for your pocketbook, or if you are concerned about the current financial status of our city, then please show up and ask a simple question: Why?
