The Los Cabos municipal water authority delivered a first payment of 200,000 pesos (about $10,000 USD) to the San José del Cabo Fire Department on Thursday, beginning to address a debt of roughly 2 million pesos ($100,000 USD) that has gone unpaid for two years.
OOMSAPAS (Organismo Operador Municipal del Sistema de Agua Potable, Alcantarillado y Saneamiento), the agency that manages drinking water, sewer, and sanitation services in Los Cabos, confirmed the payment represents about 10 percent of the total amount owed. The agency said it plans to make further installments to regularize the account.
Two Years Without Funding From Water Bills
The debt stems from a surcharge on every OOMSAPAS water bill. Four pesos from each receipt is earmarked for emergency services, split equally among the San José del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas fire departments and their respective Red Cross branches. According to Fire Commander Omar Barreras, the department stopped receiving those funds approximately two years ago, during the previous municipal administration.
Barreras told local media that the missing money has directly impacted the fire department’s operations. The funds are used for day-to-day expenses and emergency response capacity, and the two-year gap left first responders underfunded for months.
What Residents Pay and Where It Goes
For residents and expats who pay OOMSAPAS water bills in Los Cabos, the four-peso surcharge is automatically included on each receipt. That small per-bill amount adds up across the municipality’s customer base. When the water authority fails to pass those collected funds along, fire and emergency services lose a key revenue stream.
OOMSAPAS is headquartered on Calle Guerrero y Coronado in downtown San José del Cabo. The agency has been under new leadership since the current municipal administration took office. Thursday’s payment appears to be an effort by the current administration to settle obligations inherited from its predecessor.
With 1.8 million pesos (about $90,000 USD) still outstanding, the fire department will be watching for follow-up payments. No specific timeline has been announced for when the full debt will be cleared.
The story was first reported by the Los Cabos municipal government and Cabo Mil Radio.