I
am delighted to see that former Cave Creek councilman
David Phelps has filed a lawsuit to stop the
acquisition of the Desert Hills Water Company
(DHWC) by the Town of Cave Creek. (“Lawsuit
challenges town’s authority to buy water company,”
Nov. 29). I support this move and urge all the
residents of the unincorporated areas of Desert
Hills to also support this effort.
Although
I have never been a fan of the previous incompetent
ownership of the Desert Hills Water Company,
I am very much opposed to the water company
becoming a municipally‑owned utility that
is not subject to regulation by the Arizona
Corporation Commission (ACC).
Those of us living in Desert Hills can thank
the ACC for eventually intervening on our behalf
when the previous DHWC owners failed to operate
the utility in a responsible manner. Say what
you may about the ACC, at least it provided
a means for DHWC customers to obtain relief
when the water company management refused to
respond to service complaints. In addition,
the customers have had the benefit of the ACC’s
ability to regulate against arbitrary and capricious
water rate increases
by requiring the “regulated” DHWC to demonstrate
and prove the need for rate increases.
If
the Town of Cave Creek is permitted to own the
water company as a municipal utility, it will
not be subject to regulation by the ACC.
Water
customers living outside of Cave Creek have
no opportunity to participate in the Cave Creek
political process. Therefore, the town manager
and/or town council will have absolutely no
accountability to those water customers resulting
in a situation where the customers will have
no meaningful way to pursue any unanswered service
or billing complaints as they presently have
through the ACC. There will be no way to prevent
the town, as the utility owner and manager,
from abusing (or neglecting) customers in the
form of poor service or arbitrary rate increases.
Although
town leadership has presented their motives
for this acquisition as an altruistic, “good
neighbor” effort to assist Desert Hills, one
must seriously wonder how motivated the town
will be when it is time to literally pour hundreds
of thousands (or millions) of dollars into those
parts of system that are located outside of
the town limits of incorporation.
What
is going to happen to the service quality and
reliability for those customers at that time?
Does anyone seriously believe the Cave Creek
taxpayers are going to be willing to raise their
own taxes to pay for water system improvements
to maintain or improve water service to their
“neighbors” in Desert Hills? Frankly, there
aren’t that many of us “neighbors” out here
in Desert Hills to make it worthwhile for them
to do so, based upon the revenue from our water
bills. (Why do you think the previous owners
weren’t willing to spend money for|system improvements?)
For
those water customers north of Carefree Highway,
if you think this past year or two has been
a bad water service experience, it will certainly
be much worse in the future when the Arizona
Corporation Commission no longer has jurisdiction
and is not able to intervene on our behalf to
“force” the Cave Creek municipal water service
to respond to our complaints and service issues.
I
wish Mr. Phelps much success in his lawsuit
to intervene in the Cave Creek acquisition.
I remain hopeful the Desert Hills Water Company
is eventually acquired by a regulated water
service utility that not only has the necessary
experience to operate a water company, but also
has the financial resources necessary to generate
the capital required to provide a reliable and
quality water service.
Elmer
Paine
Phoenix
