Fairfax County Agency Proposes Reducing Water Rates

A Fairfax County government agency recommended Wednesday that the Board of Supervisors regulate rates for the City of Falls Church water customers who are  McLean and Fairfax residents so that they do not pay rates higher than those charged by Fairfax water, unless Falls Church can justify the higher rates.

The Fairfax County Consumer Protection Commission also recommended that Fairfax County provide water to upcoming new developments in Tysons Corner. Tysons Corner will evolve into a medium-size city and double its current population in the next several decades which will result in millions of dollars in connection and service charges.

If the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors adopts both recommendations it would lower water bills for McLean and county residents and cost the City of Falls Church millions in lost revenue because about 30,000 of its 34,000 water and sewer customers live in the county.

The recommendations are the latest skirmish in the long-standing water war between Fairfax County and the City of Falls Church and come in an election year. McLean residents have long complained that they pay higher rates because Falls Church rates are higher than county Rates.

Falls Church had charged $3.03/1000 gallons until the city council raised the rates to $3.27 last week. Fairfax charges $2.04/1000 gallons and those rates are proposed to increase to $2.16/1000 gallons.

Dranesville Supervisor John Foust shared the new report with citizens and said, "The Board of Supervisors will receive the report at our September 27 Board meeting. I expect that at our next meeting we would approve advertising the appropriate ordinances to implement the recommendations and at a subsequent meeting we would hold a public hearing and the Board would then vote on whether to adopt the ordinances." The Board of Supervisors requested the report, Foust said.

Foust called for Fairfax to buy the Falls Church water system in July when Falls Church city officials met with their unhappy McLean customers at the McLean Citizens Association meeting.

Falls Church City Councilman Lawrence Webb,  a member of the Falls Church Public Utilities Commission said:"The Commission’s report appears to be a political document, and that’s disappointing.

"Where is the Commission’s research into water rates of other water systems in Fairfax County, all of which have raised water rates in recent years?  Where is the Commission’s research into Fairfax County's own sewer rates, which have gone up 80 percent since 2005, a rate of growth 10 times higher than City of Falls Church’s water rates? Certain Fairfax County Board members have been very outspoken that they want to take over the City's Water Utility. This report raises questions about the Commission's independence. A professional and objective consumer commission should not be involved in raw politics.

"We had hoped that Fairfax County would move away from this litigious, confrontational approach after its water refund cases* were summarily dismissed in Fairfax County Circuit Court last month," Webb said.

How can Fairfax County unilaterally vote to lower water bills for county residents whom they do not serve? The county report cites Section15.2-2111 of the Virginia Code which gives localities the right to set water and sewer rates.

It is unclear why Fairfax has not invoked this law in the past. The City of Falls Church Water Utility was created in the 1930s to serve the people of Falls Church and parts of Fairfax County.

Highlights from the report and the response from the City of Falls Church:

 --The report says that between 1981-2008 the City of Falls Church transferred $58 million in surplus water revenues to its general fund to pay for city services.
 
A Fairfax County Circuit Judge ruled in 2010 stopping the city from making a profit on its water service. Falls Church appealed and lost. Barbara Gordon spokesman for Falls Church said "I do not have access to the financial files and therefore can’t confirm the amount" referenced in the report.
 
--The report said that Falls Church officials declined  to meet with the Consumer Protection Commision staff or answer any of its questions.
Gordon: The City Manager reached out to the commission last spring to offer to assist the commission in responding to the Board of Supervisors’ four questions.
 
--The report says the City paid a contractor $106,500 to perform a water rate study that recommend the new rates approved by the city council.
Gordon: The City retained a consultant to conduct a water rate study.  I do not have the cost of the consultant’s work.

*A  Fairfax County Circuit Court judge dismissed 14 refund cases saying they had been filed in the wrong jurisdiction. The cases were filed in Fairfax Court and should have been filed in Arlington Circuit Court the judge ruled.

After Judge Ney ruled that Falls Church could no longer transfer excess water money to pay for city services, Fairfax government and some private citizens filed lawsuits asking for refunds.

A copy of the 68-page Consumer Protection Commission report accompanies this story.