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Outreach to the Rate Payers In order to implement the proposed rate changes in the water and sewer rates under Proposition 218 the City is required to publish and mail a 45 day notice of said increases and /or structural changes to the rates to all water and sewer customers. Staff was authorized by Council on April 6, 2010 to mail the Proposition 218 notice and did so accordingly on April 12, 2010. In addition to the required notices, the City as part of its standard operating procedures published an additional notice of the public hearing regarding the rate changes ten days in advance of the public hearing on June 1, 2010. Finally, staff held two public workshops on May 6 and May 20 and met with the Economic Vitality Committee of the City and the EDGR Committee of the Chamber of Commerce to discuss the impacts on the business community. Staff also met with several large utility customers and representatives from several homeowners' associations to discuss the new rate structure and the impact on their accounts and calculated the impact of the rate changes on their accounts based on historical usage. Staff has fielded approximately 100 telephone inquiries regarding the proposed rate changes. The majority of the questions were regarding the modifications and impacts to the senior and low income discount programs. Of those particular callers, most were asking about their historical consumption in order to check if they have historically been under the 40 Ccf threshold. Also, approximately twenty -four (24) accounts signed up for the senior discount program at age 62 before the new proposed age limit of 65 takes effect. The following are some of the additional comments that staff has received from customers regarding the proposed rate increase /changes: Recycled water surcharge should be levied against all four tiers of the residential rates not just Tiers 3 and 4 Senior Discounts should be eliminated on the water consumed in excess of the 40 Ccf rather than losing the entire discount if your bi- monthly consumption exceeds 40 Ccf Disagreement with tying annual adjustments to the increase in the CPI Consider continuing seasonal (peak and off peak) rates for commercial irrigation customers. The following is the proposed remaining schedule of events in order to implement the proposed rate changes by August 1, 2010: Date Action June 1 Hold Public Hearing and consider proposed rate changes and adopt by resolution the water rate changes and introduce ordinance approving proposed municipal code amendment for sewer rate changes June 15 Second Reading of Ordinance and adoption of changes to sewer rates Page 19 of 20