The of City of Coeur d’Alene is a government agency; it should not be run like a business. That’s because the “business” of government is to do those things that the people cannot do for themselves. Put another way, when the job can be done by business or a charity, then government should step out of the way. But in our humble home town, City Hall appears to be run like a business with a profit motive. Case in point: The City will soon be raising your water rates.

Today’s CdA Press featured an article on how the City will soon be charging you more for the water you use. The fee hike is not to pay for new infrastructure. It’s not to pay to increase capacity. It’s not to pay for maintenance or on-going operations.

No, the reason we’ll soon be paying more for the water that the city already pumps out of the ground is conservation.

I’m all in favor of people not wasting water. During my City Council campaign, I sat with Water Dept. head Jim Markley and talked about Coeur d’Alene’s water. He spoke of the upcoming rate increase and framed it in the vein of saving water. It’s true: Lots of water goes “on the ground” during the summer months. People use nearly 6 times as much water during August than they do February, and it’s all just to keep lawns green.

Sidebar: The Mayor prides herself in a beautiful city and I would argue that green lawns in August are part of that picture. I wonder how brown lawns will figure into that vision in 2010?

So my question is whether this is truly a conservation effort or a money grab? Before you say “money grab” in your head, let me argue my vision of water conservation:

Rewards for Less Usage

The system is already set up for that. You use less water, you pay less. Simple. There should also be a program, if there isn’t already, that rewards people who maintain their property in a water-saving way, such as planting more native flora.

Regardless of conservation or not, I believe that the upcoming water rate increase is a money grab, pure and simple.

1. Does anyone believe that the rubber-stamping head-nodders on the City Council have any intentions of opposing this rate increase? I didn’t think so. Sure, we can argue against the rate increase at their March 18 meeting. We could use logic. We could plead the fate of the poor, the widow, the single mom. It would be futile. I don’t even expect the City Council to debate this issue. Done deal. (Done in secret, most likely.)
2. The Water Dept. is an Enterprise Fund. That means that it’s completely self-funded. You already pay the cost of running the Water Dept. You know that little card you get from the City every month? When you pay that bill, you pay for pulling all the water you need from the ground. The Water Dept. doesn’t lose money. They come out ahead. Every year.
3. Finally, given that the Water Dept. doesn’t lose money, why ask for more? Well, because it puts more money into the City’s coffers! The extra money that the City makes every year — what I call profit — is kept in an off-budget account called Fund Balance.

The Fund Balance accumulates from year to year. It exists as a slush fund that the Mayor and City Council can spent at any time on a whim (like they did on the Kroc Center). No voter approval required. The bonus cash that will soon flow in from the Water Dept. will cascade out into the Fund Balance. Year after year after year. Millions of dollars. Your tax dollars.

During my campaign, I promised that any Fund Balance be first used to offset property taxes for the following year. But I lost. Now we’re all stuck with elected officials who enjoy keeping a Fund Balance from year to year. This new water rate will pad that Fund Balance account and — guess what — you’ll still be paying through the nose in property taxes.

Welcome to Coeur d’Alene, Inc.