MENDOCINO CO., 10/11/25 — The Hopland Public Utility District has approved a 40% water rate hike after a meeting in front of a large crowd of local residents, most of whom opposed the decision.
The Hopland Public Utility District, just south of Ukiah, said the increase will take effect starting in November. The board also approved a 25% increase in wastewater rates.
A California law, Proposition 218, allows residents to protest specific local fee hikes before they are enacted. If more than 50% of property owners submit a written protest to the district, either by mail or at a public hearing, the rate increase cannot be approved.
At Thursday’s meeting, the district said it didn’t receive enough protest forms from residents to stop the rate increases. Local residents, who filled several rows of chairs inside the Brutocao Cellars meeting room, questioned district officials at the front of the room.
Jared Walker, the deputy director of water resources for the Ukiah Valley Water Authority, said part of the increase is due to a proposed Caltrans project in Hopland.
The work in Hopland, to bring pedestrian facilities into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act, will require the utility district to relocate and replace infrastructure.
Walker said an engineer with the utility district estimates the cost at $3 million to $7 million.
“As you can imagine that is hard to come up with,” Walker said in an interview.
In a notice sent to Hopland residents, the district said it examined operational costs, water and wastewater treatment, facility replacements and upgrades, and other factors before setting the rate increase.
“The regional Construction Cost Index has recorded more than 40% in cost inflation over the past 10 years while Hopland has not raised rates during that time,” according to the notice.
Water and sewer usage will increase on a yearly basis until July 2029. The increases vary by year and can be viewed at tinyurl.com/32u4are6.
The first year of the water increase will boost rates by 40%. This means that the current rate per 1,000 gallons will rise from $1.90 to $2.66. The first year of the sewage increase will be 25%, with a standard amount of wastewater use increasing from the current $60 per residence to $75.
For longtime residents like Earl Hair, who said he has lived in Hopland for more than 60 years, the increase comes amid already high utility bills.
“I am on a fixed income, and the increase is too much,” Hair said in an interview after the meeting. “It’s ridiculous what they want. There’s a little over 300 people in the Hopland system, wanting all that money from those people, that’s bullshit.”
The total increase over a five year period is 110%. Caltrans says they won’t even begin the second phase of their project until 2036. If even then. That is a quote from Caltrans. Its looking like Ukiah has scooped up all the little surrounding water, districts, who now must pay around 30% of their monthly bill to the Ukiah administrations.
Perhaps Ukiah is having a hard time funding their retirements?There are only 350 rate payers in Hopland, and we will now be forced to pay $5 million in five years to make the highway that cuts through our town safe for “wheelchair crossing“. Seriously that’s what we’re told by the HPUD board.
Just wondering why someone from the community didn’t help count the opposition letters, just someone from the city of Ukiah?????