CC Min 1998-05-04 Stdy - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

"The critical mix in terms of what you are looking at tonight is different from what you looked at in the past. Some of you were on the Council several years ago when the notion of storm water fees was looked at. That was a fee specifically to support the operations of maintaining your storm drain system, to get that out of the general fund, because it is now a regulated activity. What is different about the current suggestion is that you would make no change in your operation budgets, and the funding of those budgets for storm water or sewer maintenance; but you would fold the two activities together so you could leverage the value of your sewer system to borrow money to fix your storm drain system. So you would have a capital component folded in, but your operations would essentially stay funded about the same as they are now. That is an essential difference from the last discussion that occurred at the Council level about two years ago. It doesn't mean the same issues won't come up, about equity, about what is fair, who should pay what, about how much of the leadership should Redwood City provide versus how much other agencies should bring to the table. If you provide coordination, if you provide leadership, and if you provide a funding mechanism that you could then make choices about later down the road, you would probably have a much stronger place at the table when it is time to get other cities or the County or the State or even the Federal Government to entertain seriously bringing dollars to the table. Part of what you should think about tonight is leverage, both political leverage and financial leverage that you could apply." Director Ingram provided a handout and explained each item on the Potential Time Line: 1) Combine sewer/storm water ordinance, 3 months; 2) hire program coordinator, 3 months; 3) program coordination services, on-going; 4) reach consensus on projects and priorities, 6 months; 5) design bid documents, 12 months; 6) permits and possible EIR; 7) complete sewer rates, 5 months; 8) variable sewer rates take effect, 3 months; 9) issue Revenue Bonds, 3 months; and 10) beginning construction of improvements. Director Ingram said this program assumes that there will never be enough money to take care of every single flooding problem, and there was a real need to develop a consensus, so that everyone "understands the priorities... and support the decisions made around them." He said there were some existing documents that could be used as a base to build new studies, but nothing like that exists for Cordilleras Creek, which will need engineering and options developed. Director Ingram described all the agencies that will have jurisdictions as soon as the City moves on the Bayfront Canal, and explained why it might take a long time to get the permits, and possibly an EIR. He said at that point the City would have to have a professional rate study done for the Sewer Enterprise Fund "that will give the financial credibility to lending institutions just to position you to be in that market." He said the Utilities Committee had discussed for years, the possibility of moving to a variable rate rather than a fixed monthly rate. Director Ingram said senior citizens have been asking for that for years, as it will give them more control over their utility bills. He said bond counsel would be helpful throughout the process. Director Ingram said the beginning of the fiscal year is the best time to enact a change. He said if the Council wished to make changes in both rate structure and rate according to the Utilities Committee's recommendation, then July I, 1999 would be the target date. Study Session MINUTE BOOK NO. 56 May 4,1998 Minutes Page No. 442 Page 11