SEWER-FEE FOES TAKE A HIKE : COUNCIL WALKOUT DELAYS VOTE ON REFORM PLAN, ANGERS VALLEY REPRESENTATIVES.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

With San Fernando Valley residents about to win their long fight over sewer service charges, seven Los Angeles City Council members stormed out of the council chambers Friday and forced a delay in the vote.

The walkout occurred after two hours of debate on the sewer charge reform proposal by Valley Councilwoman Laura Chick and seconds before a vote that would have handed the Tarzana councilwoman an 8-7 victory.

Chick denounced the tactic as ``offensive, childish, embarrassing obstructionism.''

She will press for a vote Tuesday when the council meets next.

``These people knew we had the votes to pass it,'' she said. ``This action lowered the whole level of what this is about.''

Walkouts have occurred before to break quorums on disputed issues but not in recent memory with seven council members walking out, veteran council observers said.

Council members who walked out on the meeting said they were protesting council President John Ferraro's decision to cut off debate at the two-hour mark, as council rules permit. They claimed they didn't have a chance to air all of their concerns.

``Mr. President, censuring is not the way to deal with this issue,'' said Councilman Mike Hernandez before leading the retreat.

Afterward, Hernandez said he was frustrated because the debate was cut off just as he was about to put a compromise on the floor that would have approved in concept the change in the sewer charge, but ordered a study of its effect on apartment and septic tank owners.

He defended the walkout as justified in looking out for the interests of inner-city residents.

``As a minority of seven votes representing the inner city, that's a tool we have to use,'' he said.

At issue is the formula that bases sewer service charges on the assumption that 60 percent of water used in a residence goes into the sewer system.

However, Valley council members argued that the formula over-billed owners of large lots in the warmer Valley climate because more than 40 percent of their water on average goes to irrigation and swimming pools, not into the sewer system.

``The problem with this system is that people paying into the system are paying more than the cost of them to use the system and that is why it's wrong,'' said Councilman Richard Alarcon of Sylmar.

Chick's motion would have based everyone's sewer service charge on roughly 90 percent of the water used in their residence during the winter months, when rain and cooler temperatures mean less water is used outside the home.

``What we are talking about is making a user fee based on fair, equitable and accurate information,'' Chick said.

However, the measure was opposed by a block of non-Valley council members who said their constituents would end up paying higher sewer service fees to make up for reductions in the Valley.

Hernandez said the effect would be to charge more to ``communities of color,'' and poor residents, while benefiting more affluent neighborhoods.

``I have a problem with this simply because on its face it doesn't look equitable,'' Hernandez said. ``Those communities with the greatest need are the ones impacted most by the rate change. There is no way we can justify it.''

The walkout was led by Hernandez, who was quickly joined by council members Rita Walters, Rudy Svorinich Jr., Jackie Goldberg, Nate Holden, Richard Alatorre and Mark Ridley-Thomas.

Ridley-Thomas was the sixth council member to leave, breaking the quorum, according to Clerk Dian Titus. Alatorre headed out a side door just after Ridley-Thomas.

In an interview later, Holden charged that Ferraro ``played with the rules,'' by taking the issue up early in the meeting rather than near the end as is customary with highly controversial issues. He said debate wouldn't have had to be cut off if it had appeared later in the agenda.

``They didn't follow procedure,'' Holden said, adding that the debate will resume Tuesday.

Chick said that the council followed the rules and voted 8-7 to cut off debate after two hours, and that it is tradition that such a vote can occur when members feel the issue has been sufficiently discussed.

``That's disgusting,'' Chick angrily told Holden after the meeting.

Councilman Joel Wachs chided Holden that the walkout would just add to the momentum of Valley groups who have called for an initiative to reform the City Charter and take the reform process out of the hands of the council.

In fact, a proposal to create a charter reform commission that could submit proposals for change directly on the ballot without council revisions was one of the agenda items the council did not discuss Friday because there was no quorum after the walkout.

When the walkout occurred, the council appeared to be seconds away from voting 8-7 to change the formula for calculating the sewer charge. Councilwoman Ruth Galanter of Venice was joining the seven council members whose districts include part of the Valley - Chick, Wachs, Ferraro, Hal Bernson, Richard Alarcon, Mike Feuer and Marvin Braude - in supporting the measure.

Even before the walkout, the debate over the sewer service charge had turned into a bitter exchange between Valley-based council members and those representing other parts of the city.

At one point in the debate, Bernson accused Holden of ``spewing garbage.'' Bernson warned his colleagues that inaction by the council would just fuel secession talk in the Valley.

Bernson and Wachs also said if the system was not changed they would join a lawsuit filed recently by two private citizens against the city charging that the sewer service charges are unfair.

Wachs warned during the debate that the sewer service charge will be changed whether the council acts or not.

``The present system is blatantly unfair and not only is it unfair, it's illegal,'' Wachs told his colleagues. ``Either you're going to change it now, or the courts will change it later and the city will have to pay more.''

Holden shot back that such a lawsuit would be ``evil.''

Hernandez was particularly concerned that rates would go up for people who live in apartment buildings because they do not have as much landscaping to irrigate.

``There's no question in my mind that the majority of minority communities live in apartment buildings,'' he said, adding that the change could result in a lawsuit.

Goldberg said the bottom line is that about $4 million in annual sewer service charges would be shifted from affluent communities to less-affluent ones.

Despite the fact that water usage is metered at every home, Walters and Goldberg argued that affluent people shouldn't get a break on their sewer charges because it would encourage them to use more water on their landscaping.

``When we look at larger lots and larger homes, logic dictates they are going to use more water to keep that greenery, and they should pay for it,'' Walters said.

Bernson pointed out that homeowners who use more water on landscaping pay for it through water charges, not sewer charges.

However, Feuer and Chick disputed the characterization of the issue as one pitting an affluent Valley against the rest of the city.

``Some of the most affordable single-family homes in Los Angeles are in some of the warmest climates of Los Angeles, and those homes are occupied not by affluent people,'' Feuer said. ``Those homes are occupied by people who work like dogs in order to make the payment every month.''

As the debate wound down, opponents of the measure said more study is needed to develop a more comprehensive approach that considers the effect on apartment buildings and those with septic tanks.

Just before the walkout, the council did approve a motion by Hernandez that ordered a review of charging sewer service charges to property owners with septic tanks. They don't pay sewer charges, but their waste is ultimately pumped out and dumped into the city sewer system.

In addition, the council approved a motion by Alatorre directing a study of the sewer system infrastructure in those areas that would pay more under the new formula. Those districts with the worst infrastructure would receive priority when the city spent money to improve the sewer system in the future.

Alatorre said the motion was justified because his east-side district has the oldest sewer system but would pay more under the new formula.