Higher Sewer Fees Set to Hit Restaurant Operators
By JENNIFER BELLANTONIO
Orange County’s restaurant chains, already reeling from a slew of rising costs, are bracing for the impact of higher sewer fees recently approved by the Orange County Sanitation District.
All businesses and residents are set to pay more in sewer fees next year and beyond under the plan. But restaurants, which make more wastewater preparing food and washing dishes, could be hit harder than others.
Earlier this month, sanitation district officials OK’d a 15% rise in sewer fees for 2004 and plan to vote on increases of up to 15% for each of the following four years. The added money is set to go toward new sewer lines, system upgrades and treating wastewater.
“As a business guy, you go, ‘God, I hate these things,'” said Ed Lee, director of planning for Santa Ana-based Wahoo’s Fish Tacos. “As a citizen you say, ‘God, we need these things.'”
It’s a matter of timing, Lee said.
Like other businesses, Wahoo’s and other restaurant operators are reeling from higher workers’ compensation, liability insurance and healthcare costs.
Wahoo’s already faces a 42% rise in workers’ compensation insurance, one of the biggest issues facing California businesses.
“If you’ve been to any of the sewer plants they do need an overhaul,” Lee said. “Unfortunately, it comes at a time when we’re getting hit by increases everywhere. They need to slow it down a bit. We’ve been hit one after another.”
Other local restaurant operators were more guarded. Some declined to comment on the subject.
Privately, some said they need to wait and see what the impact of the higher fees will be on their operations.
One official said there isn’t much restaurant operators can do but grin and bear the increases, so it wasn’t worth talking about.
Irvine-based El Pollo Loco Inc. said “there’s no significant financial impact on our restaurants from this hike,” according to spokeswoman Julie Weeks. “We’re not going to be raising prices because of it.”
The sewer hikes cover 22 cities in North and Central Orange County, from Newport Beach and Irvine to La Habra and Yorba Linda. The hikes won’t impact restaurants south of Irvine.
Restaurants are set to be broken into two categories and charged by the square foot, said Gary Streed, the sanitation district’s finance director.
Starting next year, take-out restaurants are set to see sewer fees of $300 per 1,000 square feet of restaurant space, up from $263 now.
The charge for sit-down restaurants is slated to go from $525 per 1,000 square feet to $600.
The Fountain Valley-based district also issues special wastewater permits to 500 large users, such as hospitals and factories. The increase for them is slated to average nearly $2,000 next year.
