Proposed Irrigation Rates

The South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID or the District) was formed in 1909 to bring surface water from the Stanislaus River to transform Southern San Joaquin County through irrigated agriculture.  Today, SSJID delivers irrigation water to over 55,000 acres within its territory. 

Only SSJID’s irrigation customers would be subject to the proposed rate increases.  Irrigation customers include record owners of the parcel receiving irrigation water from SSJID and growers who lease farm ground and pay for SSJID irrigation water.  Property owners are identified from the County’s property tax roll.   Irrigation customers are identified from SSJID’s customer database.

SSJID has not increased its irrigation rates since 2000.  Costs to provide irrigation service continue to rise due to regulatory and inflationary pressures in addition to the repair, rehabilitation, and replacement of irrigation infrastructure, some of which was built over 100 years ago.  Cost categories such as administrative, payroll, operations, construction materials, equipment and vehicles, and capital improvements are included in the District’s cost of service analysis. 

The actual cost of providing irrigation service far exceeds the revenue generated from irrigation rates billed to and received from customers.  The SSJID Board of Directors has adopted a policy that supplements irrigation rate revenue with irrigation non-rate revenue and general-purpose revenues to cover the full cost of providing irrigation service.  In the last few years, SSJID has had to use irrigation non-rate revenues, general purposes revenues, and money from its reserves, to cover the cost of providing irrigation service.  This current business model is unsustainable.

In addition to operations and maintenance costs, the District has identified in its adopted Water Master Plan an additional $191 Million in capital improvement needed to ensure the water supply reliability for all District customers, improve the level of service for irrigation customers, and to repair, rehabilitate and replace aging District infrastructure. 

The District’s long-term business strategy is to incrementally raise irrigation rates to reduce irrigation service monetary losses and reduce reliance on general purpose revenues to cover the costs of irrigation service.  This plan of action will result in making Water Master Plan capital improvements more affordable and constructed in a timely manner. SSJID has prepared a detailed Cost-of-Service Analysis to show the full cost of providing irrigation service and the amount of irrigation non-rate revenues and general purpose revenues used to cover those full costs.

Failure to raise irrigation rates will lead to accelerated losses in the Irrigation Fund and depletion of District Reserves.  The District will also need to reevaluate how the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) will be funded.  Failure to implement the CIP will result in a decline in service for irrigation customers and will result in the eventual failure of parts of SSJID’s irrigation system.

The SSJID Board of Directors will consider the proposed irrigation rates at a public hearing scheduled for July 25, 2023, at 9:00 am at the District Office Boardroom (11011 E. Highway 120, Manteca, California).

SSJID can only use the revenue collected from irrigation rates on costs associated with providing irrigation services.  SSJID’s irrigation rate revenue is placed in a separate fund referred to as the Irrigation Fund.  The Irrigation Fund is only used to pay for costs attributable to providing irrigation services.  The Irrigation Fund is not used for any non-irrigation services costs.  SSJID’s irrigation services and the costs of those services are detailed in the District’s Cost-of-Service Analysis to support the proposed rate increase.

By law, the proposed irrigation rates must comply with the following substantive requirements:

• Revenues from the irrigation rates will not be used for any purpose other than that for which the rates are imposed;
• Revenues from the irrigation rates will not exceed the direct and indirect costs required to provide irrigation services;
• The rates will not exceed the proportional cost of the services attributable to the customer;
• The rates will be imposed for a service actually used by, or immediately available to the customer; and
• The rates will not be imposed for general governmental services where the service is available to the public at large in substantially the same manner as it is to the customer.

No, you will continue to pay the acreage rate on your property tax bill issued by San Joaquin County, and your volumetric bill via online payment or at the District’s Office at 11011 E. Highway 120, Manteca, CA 95336. 

Provided the SSJID Board of Directors does not receive sufficient written protests and the proposed rates are approved on July 25, 2023, the new acreage rate would be collected on the 2023-2024 San Joaquin County Property Tax Bill, and the new volumetric rate would be billed during the 2024 Irrigation Season.  Annual rate increases through 2028 as proposed in the rate schedule must be confirmed by the SSJID Board of Directors every year prior to going into effect, and the SSJID Board of Directors may elect to reduce the proposed rate but may not increase it without initiating and successfully completing an additional rate setting process under the California Constitution (Proposition 218).