Thanks to low-interest loans and a new capital expenditure plan by Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (Central San), the cities of Concord and Clayton have decreased previously adopted rates for sewer service fees.
Instead of raising rates $45 per year for the next three years, the rates will only increase by $10 in FY 20-21, $25 in FY 21-22 and $45 in FY 22-23. These modifications will save taxpayers $35 this year, and $55 per year for each following year.
In the summer of 2019, Concord and Clayton held public hearings and subsequently adopted a four-year plan for increases to the annual sewer service charges. These rate increases were primarily needed to fund substantial rehabilitation of Central San’s treatment plant and Concord and Clayton’s proportional share of treatment plant operational costs, which comprise more than 70% of Concord’s Sewer Enterprise Fund’s total projected expenditures. Those planned increases were reconsidered by Concord and Clayton in June 2020, resulting in the rates being lowered.
The Sewer Enterprise Fund provides for the maintenance and repair of sewer lines in the City of Concord and, by contract, in the City of Clayton, as well as portions of Contra Costa County. In addition, the City of Concord arranges for joint sewage treatment at the Central San treatment plant by paying a proportional share of the maintenance, operation, and capital improvement costs of the treatment plant.
Concord’s Sewer Enterprise Fund pays these costs by levying an annual sewer service charge on each property that utilizes or has sewer service available to that property. This charge is placed on the property tax bill as a sewer service charge in these respective jurisdictions.
The changes to sewer fees and charges for Fiscal Year 2020-21 are listed on this flyer, which was mailed to every sewer customer in the cities of Concord and Clayton.
For additional information about sewer service charges, please contact the City of Concord Public Works Department at (925) 671-3448.