CCMIN060110 - Laserfiche WebLink

except to pump it and add chemicals to it. The wholesale price of water is approximately 75% of the City's cost to deliver water to customers. Regarding the sewer system, the City no longer has a wastewater treatment plant; it was decommissioned in the 1980's, and most of the city's wastewater goes to Dublin -San Ramon Services District for treatment, and Ruby Hill wastewater goes to Livermore for treatment. The City has 13 pump stations and slightly over 2 miles of pipe to maintain. Treated water is stored and transported through LAVMA and the City shares costs and partners with Livermore and DRSRD. The City is under and encourages water conservation, they want to maintain the current senior and low income discount program but the City wants to modify it so as to reach the people it was intended to serve. They included funding for a recycled water program which the City has been eager to get into and the Enterprise Fund must be fiscally sustainable Mr. Smith said the overall proposal is for a 7.2% of the average water and sewer bill every other month. The average resident's bill will increase by $5.20 per month. Staff is not proposing a sewer increase at this time, even though a structure change is proposed in sewer rates.. Mr. Smith said a resident's bi- monthly utility bill has a flat water meter charge based on the size of the meter, which pays for the fixed costs of operating the day to day utility, such as payroll, trucks, digging up pipes, etc. The average resident pays a bi- monthly amount of $15.70. The second part of the bill is a water consumption charge which is based on the amount of water used. Water is either pumped out of the ground from wells or it is purchased from Zone 7, which is not included in the meter charge. Chemicals have to be added to it, and they must pay for the electricity to pump it. For sewer, there is both a local and regional charge, but the City collects all of the sewage, pumps it, and maintains all of the pump stations. This is a fixed monthly charge, but for businesses, it is based on consumption and the strength of the wastewater they produce. The more they produce, the more they pay, and for residents, it is a flat fee. Mr. Smith presented samples of different sizes of meters, and based upon staff's proposal to increase this on CPI each year, based upon what occurred in January, the charge will increase by 11 cents, added to the fixed rate used to run the system. Regarding consumption charges, Mr. Smith presented zero to 30 CCF up to 75. The first tier at 30 CCF would be 22,500 gallons for two months of use. He presented current rates charged from $1.55 to $2.25. The proposal is to go to a tiered system to help encourage conservation, and the new tiers go from zero to 20 up to over 60 gallons. In the first tier, residents can use 250 gallons a day in their house. Regarding the cost of Zone 7 water, Mr. Smith said it takes into account what is purchased from Zone 7 and what is pumped, and they arrive at a blended rate. Zone 7's rate is $2.02, but when the City takes into account its well water, they can discount it by 20 cents per CCF. In their new proposal, the City will sell water if residents conserve, at the wholesale rate of $1.82. As residents start to use more water, there is the wholesale charge, plus the distribution cost which allows for payment of chemicals and electricity. For recycled program, once residents get into Tiers 3 and 4, there is a 10 cent surcharge to develop money for a reclaimed system in town. A capacity extension charge applies only to the top tier, which is where they needed to make their system bigger. Their new proposed rate will go from $1.82 up to $3.05 for a very high user. Councilmember Sullivan questioned what the percentage of users per category by new tiers. Mr. Smith said staff does not know exactly what the new tiers would be yet because they have not been measured and they do not line up exactly; however, a majority or 60% were in Tier 2. City Council Minutes Page 4 of 16 June1, 2010