2011-03-31 Water Board Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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among the several districts of the county, or among the areas served by the individual water systems within the county, for the purpose of establishing charges as closely as possible to the necessary amount required for the maintenance and operation of the particular individual water systems; provided no rates and charges shall be fixed or adjusted prior to the holding by the board of a public hearing, public notice of which shall have been given not less than twenty days before the date set for the hearing. The notice shall state the time and place for the hearing and the proposed water rates and charges to be considered thereat. The time within which the notice shall be given shall be computed by including the first day (the day of the notice) and excluding the last day." We are here to receive comments or testimony on the proposed rates. As stated in the hearing notice, published in the Hawaii Tribune - Herald and the West Hawaii Today on February 27, 2011, all comments or testimony were to be filed in writing before the time of the hearing or are to be presented in person at the time of the hearing. We would like to follow this format as closely as possible. However, because there may be some of you who do not have any written statements but would like to testify or comment, we would like to accord you this opportunity to do so, but would like to limit such presentations to five minutes because of the time element. Actually, Mr. Taniguchi will be the timekeeper, so when there's one minute remaining in the public testimony, he will raise a sign that says, "One minute warning... remaining." Okay, when that time is up, he'll raise another placard that says, "Time's up." Do we have written testimony? No? We have no written testimony so at this time, we'll go to public testimony. Is there anyone here who would like to testify on the proposed public rates? (Secretary notes that Mr. Patrick Kahawaiola `a has signed up.) Patrick, would you like to... ? MR. KAHAWAIOLA`A: I signed. I thought it was just a roster. CHAIRPERSON MUKAI: Okay, I see Tommy Goya here. Mr. Goya? MR. TOM GOYA: Not at this time. CHAIRPERSON MUKAI: Wow, this may be the quickest public hearing of all time. MR. KAHAWAIOLA`A: On a point of information, what was presented in the newspaper about the... CHAIRPERSON MUKAI: You wanna come to the table? Patrick, come to the table. MR. KAHAWAIOLA`A: Good evening. My name is Patrick Kahawaiola`a, and I come tonight just as an individual, wondering about the rate hikes. And I just need additional clarification so I can return thereto the community. I see a lot of the rate hike is for pumping water. And what I gathered from this Notice was that there was a Standby Charge. And I think HELCO is gonna make the biggest... will get the biggest cut off of this pie that you needed... that the Water Department needed, to raise rates... was gonna come for electrical use. And so my only biggest concern was that I was just a bit confused about the public having to pay for electric rates through the Water Department. And forgive me, `because I'm of the premise that I have a job, I come home, I look at my household budget, I need to pay... if I use the electric, I need to pay it from what I get. I can't go back to my boss and say, give me a rate hike, give me a pay raise `cause the electricity went up. What I'm gathering is that the Water Department has the luxury... it can come to you and say, hey, look, our electricity rate is gonna go up. Is the electricity rate gonna come off of the rate hike just off what's pumped, or is it the office electric, the electric that runs the supply yard, those kinds of things? That's the confusion that I have, or Page 2 of 5 3 -30 -11 Minutes of Public Hearing on Water Rates - -Hilo