The high court ruled in July 2006 that land owners have the right to protest any increases in "property-related fees" that include water, sewer and garbage rates. These rates were previously exempt from public outcry since cities had cast them as necessary public health matters, according to Jolie Houston, Gilroy's assistant attorney.

"This year we're basically complying with Bighorn," Houston said, referring to the court's ruling in Bighorn Desert View Water Agency v. Verjil. "We now have to give people an opportunity to protest and give them a 45-day notice," she added, referring to letters the city has sent out to all property owners, notifying them of the impending 5-percent rate hike.

This means Gilroyans could stop the proposed increase this year, but halting what has become an annual custom for the city's water department since 2001 will require a majority of property owners to file written protests to the city clerk before the City Council discusses the issue Sept. 17.

None of this was possible last year when higher water rates increased the average annual bill for a South County family of five from about $107 to roughly $115. This year's scheduled increase will bring that number to about $127, according to Santa Clara Valley Water District figures.

Darin Taylor, a senior project manager with the SCVWD, said these charges are associated with the costs of pumping water from the ground, and they pay for the management of groundwater basins. Groundwater charges in South County, he said, increased from $230 to $255 per acre-foot as of July 1.

An acre-foot of water equals an area roughly the size of a football field filled to a depth of one foot. It is enough water to supply two families of five for about a year.

Arithmetic aside, City Administrator Jay Baksa said this year's rate hike is just the city's way of avoiding debt by relaying the water district's July 1 increase to local consumers. If residents don't stop the measure, the 5-percent increase will bring in another $500,000 for the city.

"We produce water for the public, but we're buying our supply from the water district that charges a pump tax for every gallon we pull out of the ground," Baksa said. "So when their rates go up, so do ours. Basically we're just passing the cost along to consumers."

Taylor said the water district expects its rates to climb by about 10 percent annually for the next few years due to facility construction and rehabilitation costs.

"With all the construction going on in California, there are less bidders on more construction contracts, and the cost of materials has gone up because of demand," Taylor said, adding that the SCVWD spent $60 million in fiscal year 2006-2007 on the maintenance of "aging" facilities and beginning the construction of new ones.

The reason the water district's rates can go up 10 percent while local rates go up only 5 percent is simple: Gilroy's water department attributes half of its costs to water district rates and electricity bills for pumping water throughout the valley floor and up the hills, where water rates are higher. This means local rates go up about half as much as the district's because district rates only account for about half of local operating costs.

"If the city is controlling its costs and others aren't going up," Taylor said, "then their rate increase needs to be less than our wholesale rates." Five percent less in Gilroy's case.

The city has done just this for the past five years with its annual 5- to-8-percent rate increases, but this year it had to send out the notice as part of the Bighorn ruling, and at the bottom of that letter appears Proposition 218.

"Prop 218," as it's called, is the state law approved by voters in 1996 that the Bighorn case centers on because it mandates notification of and protest opportunities for land owners when it comes to property-related fees, which until this year did not include water, garbage or sewer.

Protesting will not be necessary for sewer rates this year, however, because they will remain the same after only one 2-percent increase in 2003.

Rate hikes aside, Baksa lauded many Gilroy residents for buying eco-friendly homes and outfitting their existing ones with green amenities.

"People have been doing a good job of water conservation. There are new homes being built with low flush toilets and better drip irrigation systems, so actually new growth hasn't increased costs."

Whether greener houses can temper residents who have stomached steady rate hikes since 2001 remains to be seen.

According to Proposition 218, article XIIID of the California Constitution....

- Only property owners with land titles can file written protest

- Protest must include name and address

- Mail or deliver written protest to City Clerk Shawna Freels, 7351 Rosanna St., Gilroy, CA 95020

- City must receive protest by 7pm, Sept. 17

- Attend public hearing at above address and time for an opportunity to speak

A Rising Tide

- Annual water rates for the typical South County household have nearly doubled since 2001.

- South County water rate per acre-foot since 2001 and projected through 2010. An acre-foot is equivalent to the water used by two families of five in one year.

- 2001 $130

- 2002 $140

- 2003 $160

- 2004 $200

- 2005 $215

- 2006 $230

- 2007 $255

- 2008 $275*

- 2009 $295*

- 2010 $315*