In a letter to lawyers representing the city and conservative activists Bruce Hotze and Paul Bettencourt on Monday, state District Judge Stephen Yelenosky said the rate increases do not violate a charter amendment approved by voters in 2004 that limits increases to the combined rate of inflation and population growth in any given year.
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If Bettencourt and Hotze do not appeal, the city can begin to issue new bonds backed by the higher rates that will pay for vast infrastructure improvement plans and upkeep for the water and sewer system, [City Attorney David] Feldman said.
I presume this was the “rate validation lawsuit”, which Bettencourt and Hotze had challenged. They have not filed their own lawsuit, as far as I know. We’ll see what they do from here – they’re not the give up easily kind.