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Christina Casha From: Gerry Beaudin Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2023 8:33 AM To: Steven Sun Cc: dborenstein@bayareanewsgroup.com; Pleasanton City Clerk; editor@pleasantonweekly.com; Tamara Baptista; Heather Tiernan; Pamela Ott; Norm Dorais Subject: RE: Water Rate Hike Categories: GENERAL Good morning, Mr. Sun— Thanks for sharing your thoughts and concerns about the proposed water rate increase. It can be challenging to talk about increasing rates and I understand your concerns about the impacts of rising costs in most areas of our lives, particularly in recent years. My cell phone number is 925.918.1564, and I am open to talking with you if that might be helpful. I have moved the City Council to the bcc line of this email to avoid violating open meeting laws, and so they know I've responded to your email. The proposed rate increases are necessary to maintain the water distribution system that residents and businesses rely on in Pleasanton. Here are a few of the things the rate increase aims to accomplish: • Funding for immediate/near-term essential system upgrades, i.e., pipe expansion projects and a temporary booster pump that we are already moving forward with which became necessary when we had to shut down our PFAS-contaminated wells and purchase more water from the Zone 7 Water Agency; • Funding to plan for the water supply alternative project design work(we have about$2M/year budgeted for that work to find a local solution for the 3,500 acre-feet of groundwater we are having to buy from Zone 7 right now) and we will share an update on this at the September 19 Council meeting; • Funding for up to 3 additional staff people to manage, plan, and implement solutions for the system (in addition to planning for new and future needs, the City operates pumps and has over 300 miles of pipes and we are understaffed to address the needs of this core service); • Funding to pay for the additional cost that we incur by buying all our water supply from Zone 7 for the next 2-3 years (millions of dollars that we don't otherwise have budget for); and • Funding to replenish the reserve which will put us in a better position financially to address the water supply project(getting our 3,500 acre feet of groundwater back online) and the water master plan projects—the enterprise fund is headed towards insolvency, and waiting longer makes it even more complicated/more expensive to finance PFAS-related projects and other system improvements. By law,the City cannot profit from water rates-the rates are set to cover costs to operate, maintain,and manage the system—and because water is operated using an Enterprise Fund, it is designed to stand alone(like a business). The rate study was done using water industry standards by a professional firm that does this work for cities all over the State—here is a link to the study that provides the rationale/justification for the rates. For a variety of reasons, our rates have not increased in recent years, and that has led to the need for this course correction. ,..,,Please go to www.PleasantonWater.corn for a lot more information, and to this FAQ which shows how rates change for :ustomers that use more or less water. Here's the situation in a nutshell: 1