Willits Raises Water and Sewer Rates; Vice Mayor Calls for Review of City Attorney

WILLITS, Calif. — Willits water customers will see higher bills starting in October after the City Council voted 4-1 Wednesday to impose the full rate increases called for in a 2023 utility study. Council members had cut those increases in half a year ago.

The vote raises water rates 6.5% and wastewater rates 6% for 2026-27. It came as the city continues to operate under a fiscal emergency. At the end of the night, the vice mayor pushed for a performance evaluation of the city attorney, saying the council is "being ignored."

Rate increases are back on schedule

The increases follow a five-year schedule the council adopted in 2023, based on a rate study by the consulting firm Bartle Wells Associates. The schedule allowed yearly increases of 6.5% for water and up to 7% for wastewater. In June 2025, the council approved only about half of what the schedule allowed, citing financial caution.

Administrative Services Manager Joseph Park told the council the city needs the money to cover the cost of service, pay for critical system projects, and meet debt obligations. He said the city's bond advisers require Willits to keep revenue at 120% of what it owes each year on its wastewater debt. Because the rates compound year over year, he added, last year's smaller increase is still costing the city.

Council Member Bruce Burton cast the lone no vote. He said staff gave the council no current financial figures to justify the increase. "I'm reluctant to support a rate increase where I haven't got the numbers to back up the decision," he said.

Burton argued the city has "a spending problem" that it has not addressed, particularly in its utility funds. He noted that an earlier proposal asking departments to cut 10% had gained no traction. "We're just going to go ahead and just bump up what the law allows," he said.

Burton also suggested the city could stretch the increases over more years. That idea was knocked down during public comment. Under Proposition 218, the state constitutional amendment governing utility rates, increases skipped in earlier years cannot simply be added in a sixth year. Doing that would require new notice to property owners and a new chance to protest. Burton later told the room he had checked and "I was wrong."

Public speakers largely backed the increase. Robin Leler, whom the mayor described as "most likely newest city council member" after the November election, said the public had wanted the full increase last year. "The city needs the money, and this is one of the easy fixes that everybody approves of," Leler said.

The new rates are not retroactive. The sewer charge will make this year's county property tax bill. Water customers will see the increase on the next billing cycle, so the city loses three months of added revenue by acting in September instead of June.

'We need to get to the bottom of this'

The sharpest remarks came during council reports. The Vice Mayor Matthew Alaniz said that in nearly two years on the council, he has never seen the city attorney evaluated. He asked that a performance review go on next month's agenda.

"I think it's time to review what's been going on with the city attorney, what he's been telling people," the vice mayor said. "We are being ignored as a council, and I think we need to end that."

He tied the complaint to the long-running dispute over how Willits and neighboring Brooktrails Township split the capital costs of the shared wastewater treatment plant. He said the city is being pushed toward terms that are not beneficial to Willits.

Burton, from the other side of the budget debate, also asked that the cost-sharing agreement be put on a future agenda. "We can't just huff and puff and stick the Willits ratepayers with 100% of that cost without fully vetting that conversation," he said. The mayor said the item will be on the next agenda for public discussion only, with no action taken. The vice mayor noted that the agreement itself requires any changes to go through an ad hoc committee the city has not yet formed.

A $1.8 million win

Community and Economic Development Director Dusty Dooley announced that the city won $1.8 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds, a highly competitive program. The award includes $1.5 million for a new loan program open to existing local businesses. It also includes $300,000 for planning and design of a health clinic campus on the former hospital site, which operators say could support 43 jobs at full buildout. A request to fund a new roof for the Willits Grange was denied. Dooley said he was told that was because they didn't present designs for the new roof — because roofs are typically replaced without design work.

The council also voted unanimously to adopt the city's section of the 2026 Mendocino County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan. The plan ranks wildfire, earthquake and drought as the city's top natural hazards. Having an adopted plan keeps Willits eligible for FEMA disaster reimbursement.

Other business

• Fund balance: The city's fund balance fell $1.4 million in August, from $7.2 million to $6 million. Park attributed the drop mainly to a $1.1 million insurance payment and about $1 million in Great Redwood Trail contractor costs, some of which is awaiting reimbursement.
• Great Redwood Trail: The trail remains on schedule, with paving expected next month.
• The solar project is complete. The city expects a federal rebate of about 40% of the $5.2 million cost or a little over $2 million. The costs will be shared by Brooktrails Township.
• Logging trucks: Council Member Larry Stranske presented his own counts of logging trucks passing through downtown. Dooley said the city plans to bar heavy trucks from downtown as a condition on a log yard's pending site plan.

The meeting opened with a moment of silence for retired Willits Police Chief Scott Warnock, a former district attorney's investigator, who died after a long battle with cancer.