Sewer & Sanitation Rates

Sewer and Sanitation Services

The City of Claremont owns, operates, and maintains sewer and sanitation systems that provide essential public services to residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, and other customers throughout the community. Sewer and sanitation rates are the primary source of revenue used to fund the operation, maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, replacement, and administration of these enterprise services. Revenues collected from sewer and sanitation rates are used solely for their respective services and do not exceed the amount required to provide those services.

Sewer Service

The City's sewer collection system consists of approximately 122 miles of gravity sewer mains, associated manholes, cleanouts, service laterals, and one pump station. Sewer rates fund the operation, maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, and replacement of the City’s sewer system, as well as necessary capital improvements, utility administration, and operating and capital reserves. These revenues help ensure reliable sewer collection service, reduce the risk of sewer overflows and system failures, and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.

 Wastewater collected by the City's sanitary sewer system is conveyed to facilities owned and operated by the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts for treatment and disposal.

Sanitation Service

The City's sanitation utility provides residential and commercial solid waste collection, recycling, organics collection, and street sweeping services. The City also contracts with third-party service providers for transfer hauling, landfill disposal, and organic material processing. Sanitation rates fund these activities, including contracted disposal and processing, vehicle and equipment replacement, regulatory compliance, administration, and adequate operating and capital reserves.

Why are sewer and sanitation rate changes needed?

The City retained Willdan Financial Services to prepare comprehensive Sewer and Sanitation Utility Rate Studies to evaluate the financial condition of the Sewer and Sanitation Enterprise Funds and determine whether existing rates will generate sufficient revenues to support utility financial objectives and needs. Based on the results of these analyses, updated sewer and sanitation rates are recommended to ensure each enterprise fund remains financially sustainable while allowing the City to continue providing reliable services.

Sewer Service

Although annual rate adjustments were adopted in 2021, the City did not implement a rate adjustment in the first year of the current financial plan. During that time, inflation and rising costs for labor, construction, materials, equipment, and contracted services continued to increase, resulting in revenues that no longer keep pace with the cost of providing sewer service. The City's aging sewer collection system also requires ongoing inspection, maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement. Maintaining reserve funding is also important to respond to unexpected repairs and future capital needs. The proposed sewer rate adjustments will provide sufficient funding to maintain the City's sewer system, support future capital improvements, maintain prudent reserve levels, and ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the Sewer Enterprise Fund.

Sanitation Service

Like the Sewer Enterprise Fund, the Sanitation Enterprise Fund has experienced operating cost increases that have exceeded the annual rate adjustments adopted in 2021. Rising costs for contracted disposal, transfer hauling, landfill disposal, organic material processing, and specialized collection vehicles and equipment have increased the cost of providing sanitation services. The proposed sanitation rate adjustments will provide sufficient funding for ongoing collection, recycling, organics, and street sweeping services, contracted disposal and processing services, vehicle and equipment replacement, and maintain adequate reserve levels necessary to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the Sanitation Enterprise Fund.

The City Council will consider the proposed sewer and sanitation rates at a Public Hearing on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at 6:30 PM, or as soon thereafter as the matter may be heard, in the City Council Chamber, 225 Second Street, Claremont, California 91711.

At the Public Hearing, the City Council will consider all oral comments and written protests regarding the proposed rates. Any owner, or customer of record, of a parcel subject to the proposed rates may submit a written protest against the proposed rate revisions. If written protests are filed by a majority of the affected parcels, the proposed rates will not be adopted. If you do not object to the proposed rate revisions, you do not need to take any action.

Written protests must include the following: 1) a statement indicating that the identified property owner or customer of record is in opposition to the proposed sewer and/or sanitation rate changes; 2) the street address or Assessor's Parcel Number (APN) for the parcel(s) with respect to which the protest is made; and 3) the name and signature of the owner or customer. Written protests must be mailed, or hand delivered, to the City Clerk at 207 Harvard Avenue, Claremont, California 91711 and received prior to the start of the Public Hearing on September 22, 2026, or hand delivered to the City Clerk at the public hearing on September 22, 2026, before the conclusion of the public comment portion of the Public Hearing. Protests submitted via e-mail or other electronic means will not be accepted. For any written protest, whether mailed or submitted in person to the City Clerk, please identify on the front of the envelope that the enclosed protest is for the Public Hearing on the Proposed Rate Changes – Sewer and Sanitation Rates.

The City Council will consider all written and oral protests related to the proposed rate changes at the Public Hearing. Oral comments at the Public Hearing will not qualify as formal protests unless accompanied by a written protest. Upon the conclusion of the Public Hearing, there will be no more written protests accepted, and no more testimony taken, and the City Council will consider adoption of the proposed rates described in this notice. If written protests, as outlined above, are not presented by a majority of property owners, or customers of record, the City Council will be authorized to adopt the proposed rates. While both property owners and customers of record may submit written protests, only one protest will be counted for each parcel. If adopted, the rates for sewer and sanitation service will be in effect beginning January 1, 2027 and increase each July 1, through and including July 1, 2030 as provided above.

In accordance with Government Code section 53759, there is a 120-day statute of limitations for challenging any new, increased, or extended fee or charge, commencing from the later of the effective date of the new rates or of the date of the final passage, adoption, or approval of the resolution adopting the new rates.