Telephonic Public Comment - W-01427A-25-0126 - Liberty Utilities (Litchfield Park Water and Sewer) Corp. SW-01428A-25-0127 - Liberty Utilities (Litchfield Park Water and Sewer) Corp. SW-01428A-25-0163 et al Tucson

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Arizona Corporation Commission 16 min 2 agenda items transcribed 4 days ago official recording ↗

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What is the purpose of the public comment hearing and which docket numbers are being considered?

Belinda Martin 0:00

And let's go ahead and go on the record. And this is the time set for public comment and docket numbers W-01427A-25-0126 and SW-01428A-25-0127 for rate increases for the water and wastewater division. and docket numbers W-01427A-25-0163 and SW-01428A-25-0163 approval of a financing application. Good evening and welcome to the Arizona Corporation Commission. My name is Belinda Martin, the administrative law judge assigned to this matter. And I see that we have a couple of A couple of, yes, I'm gonna go ahead and take appearances then. Press star six to unmute yourself. Appearing today on behalf of Liberty Litchfield.

Tim Szabo 1:10

Good evening, Your Honor. This is Tim Szabo appearing on behalf of the applicants.

Belinda Martin 1:17

Good evening, Mr. Szabo, thank you. Appearing on behalf of Rucco.

Unknown 1:23

Good evening, Your Honor. Sarah Barrio's cool, appearing on behalf of RUCO.

Belinda Martin 1:28

Okay. And appearing on behalf of staff?

Unknown 1:39

Your Honor, this is Maureen Scott on behalf of staff, and I believe Bridget Humphreys is probably also on the line.

Belinda Martin 1:49

Oh, okay. All right, great. Thank you. Okay. I see we have one person calling in, and I will take this person's comment, and then if nobody else has called in at that time, I'm going to go off the record for about 15 minutes to see if anybody else calls in during that time. So I see Ronald Hill. Claire, if you could unmute your phone and state your name, and if you're a customer of the company, star six. I think you just muted

Ronald Hill 2:28

yourself

Belinda Martin 2:28

again. There you go. There you go.

Ronald Hill 2:30

Okay. Okay, thank you. My name is Ronald Hill. I am a client of Liberty. And after reviewing all the documentation, I just want to state and make a point that the rates that you're asking for are so out of line in relation to a person like myself and my wife who are on Social Security. And the type of increases would put a tremendous burden. As you know, we do not receive those kind of increases on our Social Security checks each month. The other, I am a former business owner in the mortgage industry. And when I'm looking at your financials from 2025, I see that you made a profit of about 3.7%. Now, I would understand an increase to maybe even put it to 5% to 7%. But to put the kind of increases that you're asking for and the reasons you're asking for are just so totally out of consideration for what people in our community are experiencing, not just for those on Social Security, but for the cost of living, the cost of gas right now.

Ronald Hill 3:39

And that is all I want to state is that it is so unfair, and I don't know how you can go to sleep at nighttime asking for the kind of increases that you are. Thank you for listening.

Belinda Martin 3:53

All right. Mr. Hill, thank you very much. If you wish to stay on the line, feel free. We will double check. I don't see anybody else calling in at this moment. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to go off the record until 545 and then come back on if nobody else has called in. If somebody calls in in the meantime, We'll go on the record then, and I will announce it, of course. All right, so let's go ahead and go off the record until that time. All right.

Belinda Martin 8:00

Excuse me. Michelle, this is Judge Martin. We have another caller. So are you, if you're ready to go back on the record? Yes, I see that and I'm ready. All right. Let's go back on the record then. Good evening. This is Judge Martin. I see we have Diane Vasquez on the line. Ms. Vasquez, if you could please press star six to unmute your phone.

Belinda Martin 8:35

There you go. Ms. Vasquez, if you could please state your name and spell it for the court reporter, I'd appreciate it. And then you can go ahead and make your comment.

Diane Vasquez 8:45

Diane, D-I-A-N-E, last name Vasquez, B as in Victor, A-S-Q-U-E-Z. All

Unknown 8:54

right, thank you. Go ahead, please.