WILLITS, CA., 9/29/26 — Willits water customers will pay 6.5% more and sewer customers 6% more starting with the October billing cycle, after the City Council voted 4-1 Wednesday, Sept. 23 to take the full increase planned for this year.
The increases are the fourth step in a five-year rate schedule. The council adopted it in July 2023, based on a rate study by the consulting firm Bartle Wells & Associates, according to the staff report and resolution in the meeting agenda. The schedule sets a maximum increase for each year through the 2027-28 fiscal year.
Last year, the council held both increases to 3.25%, the resolution shows. For water, that was half the 6.5% planned. Mayor Tom Allman said at the meeting that the council made that decision on June 25, 2025.
This year, the staff report pointed to the city’s finances. “Given the recently declared fiscal emergency, the city needs to recover costs of providing water and wastewater services and funding critical system projects,” the report said.
Vice Mayor Matthew Alaniz made the motion. He, Allman and council members Gerardo Gonzalez and Larry Stranske voted yes.
Council member Bruce Burton voted no. He said the council hadn’t been given current numbers to justify the increase.
“We were not provided any financials that demonstrate need,” Burton said, according to the Willits Community Television video of the meeting. “I’m reluctant to support a rate increase where I haven’t got the numbers to back up the decision.”
He said the council hadn’t looked at spending, and that he doesn’t see the city’s financial situation as an income problem: “I think it’s a spending problem,” he said.
Gonzalez said the 2023 plan accounted for the city’s solar project and its debt payments and left some cushion, which is why he supported the smaller increase last year. “I kind of want to get us on track to make sure,” he said. “We’re basically funding our debt.” He said he also wants projects such as installing a water tank for storage to get done.
City Attorney Jim Lance said rates are normally renewed in June, along with the budget. Starting in October means the city misses three months of higher water charges — July, August and September, he said.
The sewer charge is different. It’s collected on the county property tax bill, and Lance said he suspected meeting the county’s deadline for that bill was why the item came up now.
Burton said the part of the increase the council skipped last year could be added in a sixth year. Lance said he believed it could, with another council resolution.
A public commenter disagreed. Allman then said he had done “a little quick AI search” during the meeting, and that it indicated a California city can’t automatically add a deferred increase in year six without a new Proposition 218 notice and protest process.
Robin Leler, a candidate for City Council in November, spoke in favor. “The public wanted to raise the water rates the full amount at the time,” she said of last year’s discussion. “The city needs the money, and this is one of the easy fixes that everybody approves of.”