AgdaPkt 2005-06-06 - Laserfiche WebLink

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��- z In January, the Council provided some general policy guidance to the Utilities Committee and asked that the Committee work with staff to develop specific recommendations for how rate increases shall be implemented on July 1, 2005. In early March 2005, the Utilities Committee (comprised of Council members Foust [chair], Mayor Ira, arid Vice Mayor Pierce) met and adopted a process whereby staff would elicit community input before the Committee considered specific options for how rates will be increased. To that end, a community roundtable was held on April 21, 2005, which was facilitated by the Civic Engagement and Facilitation Program of the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center. Approximately 25 people participated, and in the course of the evening, the participants generated a considerable volume of input and ideas, drawn from their reactions to three different approaches for water rate increases (See Attachment One). The next step in the process was to return to the Utilities Committee and debrief them on the roundtable outcomes. The Committee considered additional public comments at their April 27 meeting, discussed what they thought were the best inputs from the public, and gave direction to staff to more fully develop two 'hybrid' options for their consideration at their May 12, 2005 meeting. On May 12, the Committee narrowed staff's draft options to their preferred recommendation, further fine-tuning the methodology of rate and service charge increases to highlight key principles that came out of th� roundt�ble discussions. The overarching guidelines that the Committee has applied to their recommendation for the consideration of the futl Council are as follows: • A refinement of the Water Enterprise Guiding Principles (see Attachment Two) • A hybrid approach to rate increases based on community input that was further refined to insure that billing impacts for v�rious customer classifications reflect the Committee's desire for equity and conservation (see Attachments One and Three) • Confirmation that budgeted expenditures and projected rev�nues for FY 2005/06 are in balance (see Attachment Four) ., • Analysis of benchmarking aver�g� water bill� on the Peninsuta — which demonstrates that despite this significant increase, Redwood City remains on of the most cost-effective water retailers (see Attachment Five) In summary; the recommendation for Council consideration is: 1.. Increase the residential monthly Basic Service Charge by 3.8%, from $11.56 to $12.00: 2� Increase consumption rates as follows: a. inerea�se the residenttal "Lifeline" rate from $1.13 to $1.18 per unit (748 , gallons) — a 4% increase for the first 10 units of water per billing period.' - b:_�For 11 t� 25 units, increase the residential rate by 8%, to $2.16 per unit. c. For 11 to 50 units, increase the residential rate by 14%, to $2.74 per unit. d. For 11 to 75 units, increase the residential rate by 26%, to $3.53 per unit. e. For 11 to 75+ units, increase the cesidential rate by 33%, to $4.32 per unit. f. For 1-1� units, increase the commercial rate by 8%, to $2.16 per unit. g. For 1-75 units, increase the commercial r�te by 14%, to $2.74 per unit. h. For 1-75+ units, increase the commercial rate by 47%, to $3.53 per unit. 1 De-link Redwood City lifeline rate from Hetch Hetchy wholesale rate. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission lowered the wholesale rate from $1.13 to $1.02 on Aril 1, 2005. Wholesale rates are projected to triple by 2015, driven by the reconstruction of the Hetch Hetchy regional water system. Page 2 of 3