The drive to enlist enough property owners to protest the proposed escalation of Colfax sewer rates may be approaching the critical number needed to defeat the rate increase.

Local businessman Gary Todd, one of the organizers of the protest drive, said Monday the loosely organized coalition had gathered about 300 signatures on form letters required to defeat the rate hike.

Todd said City Attorney Scott Brown told him the form letters conformed to the legal requirements necessary to file a valid protest.

Another protest organizer, Kathy West, declined to state the number of signed protest letters that had been gathered. She did say, however, there are “a lot of us” gathering signatures, but “I’m not going to be overconfident.”

City Clerk Karen Pierce said Friday that approximately 331 verified protest letters would be necessary to stop the rate hike. The number is approximate, Pierce explained, because 15 parcels still need to be confirmed.

Aware that not everybody who has signed the protest letters might be qualified to register a protest, Todd said the group’s goal is to gather 450 letters by the July 1 deadline.

Only property owners served by the sewage system are allowed to lodge protests against the rate increase. To stop it, 50 percent of property owners – plus one – must file objections.

In actuality, some property owners may have to file as many as three specific protests to successfully challenge the rate hike. This is because the city is proposing two base rate hikes as well as a third that will only affect certain residents served by the city’s sewer system.

The two rates every property owner would have to pay per month are $87 ($87.46 for non-city residents) and $12.40.

The first rate would help pay for construction, maintenance and operation of the city’s new $9.6 million wastewater treatment plant.

The second rate would cover the cost to repair the 11 miles of system’s sewer pipes, some more than 100 years old.

The other rate hike, which would affect about one-third of sewer system customers, would be used to repair and upgrade lift stations that pump sewage to gravity lines that feed the wastewater treatment plants.

For in-city users served by a non-school lift system, the rate would be $41.89; for in-city users served by a school lift station, the rate would be $78.02.

Users outside the city limits, who are served by a school lift station, would be charged $78.02. (All non-city users served by a lift station are on a school lift station.)

Thus, rates would range from a low of $99.40 to a high of $177.88.

Making the rate hike even more onerous is the fact the rates are calculated on an equivalent dwelling unit (EDU), which is the average amount of wastewater generated by a single family home. This means that property owners with multiple EDUs (e.g., restaurants, apartment houses, schools, etc.) would be charged per EDU.

Although written and affirmed oral protests must be submitted to the city by the public hearing, which starts at 7 p.m. on July 1 at the Sierra Vista Community Center, it is not likely the matter will be decided at that time, Pierce reported.

All the written and oral protests must be validated, which requires a lot of time and effort, she said.

Even if the rate protest is successful, however, the issue will not go away.

The city is under state and federal mandates to upgrade the sewer system. The California Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board has already fined the city twice for failing to meet upgrade deadlines.

A self-described “instigator” of the protest, Robby Robinson, acknowledged the city has no real choice in the matter. Eventually, somebody is going to have to pay for the mandated sewer system upgrades, he said.

“I’m just interested in everybody being informed” about the options and alternatives, he said.

Like many of the other protesters, Robinson said he did not feel the city gave residents enough time to consider the ramifications of the rate hike.