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Page 17 of 20 <br />City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.org <br />The City proactively manages rising costs to prevent significantly increasing utility rates by: <br />Working with development projects to ensure their impacts to the City’s utility systems are properly <br />mitigated, including developer payment of applicable impact fees and construction of off-site utility <br />improvements. For example, the Elco Yards and Broadway Plaza projects have installed a combined <br />7,040 linear feet (LF) of offsite recycled water main extension and 3,190 LF of offsite sanitary sewer <br />main replacement. <br />Applying for and obtaining regional, state, and federal grants. In the past several years, E&T staff have <br />obtained grants of $3.6M for seismic improvements to water projects and $13.2M for stormwater <br />pump station projects. Additionally, the City has been awarded several grants totaling $4M+ for the <br />study of and improvements to creeks, levees, and sea level rise vulnerabilities. <br />In managing utility rates, the City strives to avoid sharp cost increases for customers while funding <br />necessary operations and maintenance. Rates generally increase as operating costs increase and long- <br />term capital projects are funded. The City conducts utility rate studies to assess cash flow projections and <br />guide rate adjustments. <br />Staff develops multi-year rate recommendations for City Council for consideration and approval. The <br />most recent set of sewer and water rates changes took effect on July 1, 2024 and January 1, 2025, <br />respectively. <br />Recognizing that rising utility rates are particularly difficult for low-income residents, since 2017, the City’s <br />Utility Rate Assistance Program (URAP) has provided water and sewer utility discounts for qualifying low- <br />income customers. This program is funded by late fees paid by customers; the City may only charge <br />customers for the cost of their service and cannot require customers to subsidize costs through the rate <br />structure. <br />6. Upcoming City Council Actions <br />Several City Council actions are planned over the next year related to City utilities. The dates below are <br />subject to change. <br />a. June 9, 2025 – Recommended Budget Study Session and June 23, 2025 Budget Hearing and <br />Adoption <br />b. October 13, 2025 – Water System Public Health Goal Report <br />c. November 10, 2025 – Consideration of Water Rate Increases <br />d. November 10, 2025 – Climate Action Plan Update <br />e. Spring 2026 - Adoption of the Recycled Water Master Plan <br />f. Spring 2026 – Adoption of the Comprehensive Sanitary Sewer Capacity Master Plan <br />g. Fall 2026 – Study Session Stormwater Roadmap <br />9.A. - Page 17 of 20 <br />502