WEST VALLEY CITIES KICKING OFF HOLIDAY SEASON, PAGE 8
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IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS
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A CHRISTMAS STORY Local author included in latest Chicken Soup for the Soul book — Page 3.
View photo by Jordan Christopher
CITY OF GOODYEAR EMPLOYEE GABE SOTO hangs a holiday sign from a light pole along Estrella Parkway Nov. 18 in Goodyear. Holiday-themed signs have been hung on light poles throughout the city and will remain in place through early January.
NEW DANCE MOVES DancEstrella students choreographing upcoming show — Page 2.
DAILY UPDATES! News Updates and fresh Classified ads posted Monday - Friday at 4:30 p.m. online at www.westvalleyview.com Volume 31, No. 34 24 Pages 1 Section Circulation: 77,869 INDEX Classifieds .................... 20 Editorials & Letters .......... 6 Obituaries ...................... 18 Sports ............................. 9 Briefcase ......................... 5 9 Days a Week............... 15 Recycle this paper
Buckeye adjusting water rates for 2017 Bills will remain same for most users, decrease for large users by Glenn Gullickson staff writer
The Buckeye City Council, embattled with residents who say they have been overcharged for water they didn’t use, has approved a new schedule that keeps rates the same for most water users next year and reduces rates for the largest water users. The unanimous vote to modify water rates for 2017 came during a City Council meeting Monday after officials reviewed a rate structure that a consultant said had previously been “aggressive” in charging higher rates for big water users. The action cancels a water rate hike that the council had previously approved for all water users that was to take effect in January. A leader of a group of residents who are so angry about disputed water charges that they are seeking to recall Buckeye Mayor Jackie Meck said the controversy helped spur the action. Heather Wilson, who has been coordinating the group of residents, claimed that the campaign forced the city to take early action on the rates.
But Dave Nigh, the city’s water resource director, said the study’s timing and recommendations were coincidental. Nigh said the routine review of rates started last summer, months before residents started disputing water bills of hundreds of dollars for thousands of gallons of water they say they didn’t use. The consultant who has advised the city on water rates since 2013, Dan Jackson, of the Dallas-based Willdan Financial Services, said favorable conditions, including higher revenues than expected and decisions to postpone some capital improvement projects, allowed the city to adjust water rates for next year. “It really is a win-win situation for everybody,” Jackson said. Jackson said the utility is benefiting from economies of scale with more customers due to increasing population and the acquisition of Global Water’s Valencia Water Co. in 2015, bringing the number of water accounts to almost 19,000. With the rate adjustment, Jackson said the city’s water revenues would be down from previous forecasts by about $303,000 in the current fiscal year and about $1 million in the next fiscal year. But Jackson said the city will still collect enough money to cover costs for the utility, with current fiscal year expenses of $27.6 million and revenues of $29.3 million. (See Water on Page 2)
Woman dies in head-on with bus by Emily Toepfer assistant editor
A 24-year-old woman identified as Sarah Castillo-Cornejo of Peoria died Nov. 25 after her vehicle crashed head-on into a Greyhound bus that was traveling eastbound on Interstate 10 in Goodyear, officials said. At about 2:30 a.m., troopers with the Arizona Department of Public Safety began receiving reports of a vehicle driving westbound in the eastbound lanes near Loop 101, said Quentin Mehr, a spokesman for DPS. Castillo-Cornejo’s vehicle collided with the bus at Sarival Avenue, and she was pronounced dead at the scene, Mehr said. Half of the three dozen passengers on the bus were transported to two local hospitals for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, said Battalion Chief Ed Pahl, a spokesman with the Goodyear Fire Department. The bus was traveling to Phoenix from San Bernardino, Calif., and the uninjured passengers were transferred to another bus, said Lanesha Gipson, a Greyhound spokeswoman. The investigation is ongoing, and impairment is suspected, Mehr said. Emily Toepfer can be reached at etoepfer@westvalleyview.com or on Twitter @EmilyToepfer. KPHO/KTVK reporter Phil Benson contributed to this article.