inewsource has the following response to a memo distributed Wednesday by the San Diego mayor’s office concerning our report on money collected from water and sewer rate increases over the past four years:
We are disappointed that the mayor’s office has chosen to challenge our report.
These are the facts: The Public Utilities Department is collecting surpluses from the ratepayers, and hundreds of millions of dollars in ratepayer and bond proceeds are sitting unspent.
These were the conclusions of the Independent Rate Oversight Committee, the citizens the mayor appointed to monitor the ratepayers’ money. On Tuesday, the day after our report aired on KPBS and KGTV and was published in UTSan Diego, these citizens voted unanimously to send their findings to the City Council.
We were gratified to see the UT’s editorial board support the call for an independent audit, which is only now being commissioned. Annual independent audits were required, but not done, as part of the utilities rate increases.
We look forward to reporting on the results of the audit and on discussions of possible future rate increases.
Lorie Hearn
Executive Director
Investigative Newsource
