The Sedona City Council opted to take no action to oppose or make a statement about Arizona’s Water Company’s proposed rate increase, which will increase water costs for Sedona residents by at least 36%, according to the utility’s officials.

The lack of such a statement from council indicates their tacit approval of such increases and sends no message to the Arizona Water Company utility or the Arizona Corporation Commission, which must approve proposed rate increases. The council is effectively telling both entities that such a fee increase is perfectly fine, with no objections.

Unlike issues dealing directly with property taxes or property-wide rates that affect property owners, who must then make a choice about how to pass those costs on to their tenants, direct utility costs for water, electricity, internet and trash are paid for by homeowners and tenants.

Non-property-owning tenants have long complained they’re being pushed out of Sedona by increasing rents and short-term rentals and forced to find other places to live, often in other Verde Valley communities, although many have been making it work in Sedona for years or even decades. Since the COVID-19 pandemic nearly doubled the value of Sedona homes without property owners having to make additional improvements, social media pages have been awash in posts from residents announcing that they’re being forced to move by rent increases and begging other users to help them find a place somewhere where they have built their lives, careers or small businesses and built a community.

A retiree resident with a good credit score, a house for sale back home and a million dollars in net assets can afford a home in Sedona with little problem, even if they must pay more than they would in other communities.

Conversely, working class residents who provide the labor and services that wealthier residents and retirees rely on at restaurants, grocery stores, retail shops and in the service industry couldn’t afford a home in Sedona 20 years ago and have no hope of affording one now — unless they luck into an inheritance from a wealthy relative.

Many stay in Sedona by the skin of their teeth, cutting costs where they can and often relying on food charities to reduce their costs. But people can only reduce their utility needs so far, and many are being nickel-and-dimed out of a community they have called home for years. Tack onto that COVID-19-related inflation and new residents who are evacuating cities and flocking to Sedona and other rural places.

A message to the Arizona Water Company and the members on the Arizona Corporation Commission in opposition to the rate increase would have indicated to residents and voters that the City Council cares about those increasing costs and asks for relief as our workers struggle economically.

But by declining to act in any fashion, this City Council indicated that they do not care about the economic threats facing Sedona’s working class, working poor and poorer retirees who survive on their meager savings, from which utility companies get to slice off more and more.

The realpolitick of the increase request is much more stark. Utility companies almost always get rate increases they ask for; the only question is how high the rates will go up. A statement from a legislative body carries little weight. There are five Republicans now serving on the commission, following the departure of the last two Democrats in the November election who would routinely vote against rate increases.

The Arizona Water Company did make a convincing argument as to why the increased costs are needed in the Sedona area, but more modest rate increases since 2017 would have at least helped some residents adjust, rather than a facing sudden hike all at once.

Still, this council hasn’t let realpolitick ever get in the way of performative and meaningless statements for the sake of transactional politics. After all, this is the same council that floated an OHV ban on city streets to reward campaign donors even though the city lacks any legal authority under state law to ban such vehicles.

The water rate hike is just a drop in bucket for those who can afford to spend their disposable income on their preferred political candidates, but for the working poor who don’t and can’t buy a candidate’s ear, council’s silence tells them who matters in Sedona.