Mar. 7--Water rates may come back to the Paso Robles City Council next month -- about 60 days after council adopted the fees -- because a petition has been filed to force officials to take back their decision or call a special election.

To merit such action, the 167 petitions must contain valid signatures totaling at least 10 percent of Paso Robles' 14,702 registered voters.

If the group succeeds, it will be the second time that Concerned Citizens of Paso Robles has collected enough signatures to repeal the city's water rates as officials try to pay for its share of the Nacimiento Water Project.

Group leader John Borst, who has long been a vocal critic of raising rates, says the capital costs for the Nacimiento pipeline and related infrastructure require voter approval, among other arguments. City officials say the rate plan complies with state law.

The North County group says it has gathered 2,100 signatures at businesses, grocery stores and at residents' homes from people saying they want the city to rescind the water fee increase, which passed Feb. 3.

City Attorney Iris Yang has long told Concerned Citizens that Paso Robles has been in compliance with state law as it maps out rate plans.

The entire Nacimiento project will cost $176 million, and Paso Robles is responsible for an estimated $60.8 million of it. Payment for the project is scheduled to begin next year.

"Many public agencies include the costs of providing water, which necessarily includes capital costs, as part of their water rate structure," Yang wrote to The Tribune on Friday.

In a previous effort to back up his argument, Borst and his group said the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association supports his position.

"However, in fact, we received confirmation from (the taxpayers association) agreeing with the city's position," Yang said, "which is that the water fees can be used to pay for capital costs."

She also noted that, while the taxpayers association, based in Sacramento and Los Angeles, prefers such costs be paid by special assessments or special taxes, it agrees that the law does not require those methods.

Patterned on the "pay as you go" approach, the current payment plan would raise the average family's monthly water bill to $49.95 in 2010 and to $63.65 in 2013. Those sums include an $18 fixed rate per bill to pay for the infrastructure to get water to residents plus a variable rate based on how much water each household uses.

The current charge for residents is $1.32 per unit of water plus the $18 fixed rate per month.