Item 1 - Additional Material collected at the meeting posted 1-9-19Written Statement of:
Pamela Klapproth
12640 Soule
Poway, CA. 92064
Delivered to Poway City Clerk — Tuesday December 8`h 2019.
ttem
Submitted by:
` ee+f N P 1
I object to the City's Planned Rate changes for Water and Sewer service for the following reasons:
1) The city has taken millions of dollars in from the water and sewer fund and loaned them to other
city departments over the past 20-30 years and has not paid them back.
2) The city has charged the costs of litigation that should be paid by the general fund to the water
and sewer fund.
3) The city does not pay the full costs of water and sewer services to city facilities and parks. Instead
they charge the ratepayers for some of those costs which is a tax not allowed under prop 218
without a property tax related vote.
4) The sewer consumption charge for single family homes is not a uniform rate. Those who use the
least water are paying rates 10 times higher than those who use the most water. This is not just
unfair; it violates Prop 218 which says the costs must be proportionate to use of each parcel.
Sincerely,
Pamela Klapproth
Written Statement of:
Peter J. Neild
12648 Butterwood Ct.
Poway, CA. 92064
Delivered to Poway City Clerk — Tuesday December 8`" 2019.
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I object to the City's Planned Rate changes for Water and Sewer service for the following reasons:
1) The city hasn't shown that the cost allocations (costs from the legislative and administrative
departments, city manager, city clerk, etc.) are water and sewer related expenses.
2) The city has taken millions of dollars in from the water and sewer fund and loaned them to other
city departments over the past 20-30 years and has not paid them back.
3) The city has charged the costs of litigation that should be paid by the general fund to the water
and sewer fund.
4) The city does not pay the full costs of water and sewer services to city facilities and parks. Instead
they charge the ratepayers for some of those costs which is a tax not allowed under prop 218
without a property tax related vote.
5) The sewer consumption charge for single family homes is not a uniform rate. Those who use the
least water are paying rates 10 times higher than those who use the most water. This is not just
unfair; it violates Prop 218 which says the costs must be proportionate to use of each parcel.
Sincerely,
Peter J. Neild
Date: \ T l q
Item #:
ftted by:
January 8, 2019
To: City of Poway City Council
From: Janet Lettang
Re: Opposition to sewer rates
Dear City of Poway City Council,
With regard to sewer rate charges, I am opposed to the three year average used to calculate the
tiered sewer charges.
Poway should use the rate used during the previous winter for calculating the next year's
charges. If a family has an extra high water usage due to pool filling or a leak, then they can ask for an
audit for consideration of a rate reduction.
Using the water usage from the previous year will give more accurate charges based on recent
usage.
Thank you for your consideration.
Janet Lettang
16386 Summer Sage Road
Poway
January 8, 2019
Date: i
Item #:
We object strongly to the planned increase in the water and service rates before
the City of Poway.
We are disturbed that the water & sewer fund has been a piggy bank to other city
department for years and has not been paid back and that even litigation costs
have been charged to the water and sewer fund instead of the general fund.
Millions of dollars have been diverted. How can this be legal ? Now you want
to penalize the rate payers for the inept decisions made by elected officials. Put
an end to this practice of charging rate payers so you can replenish the funds that
elected officials and staff have robbed from!
Jim & Mary Ann Buckley /
13720 Woodgate Place
Poway, CA 92064
I would like to introduce myself. My name is Joan Balazs. My husband and I
moved to Poway in June 1968 when my oldest son was three months old.
My husband was in the Navy and other than a two-year tour in Connecticut my
children were raised in Poway and graduated from Poway High School.
I grew up in the Buffalo, New York area and thought I died and when to heaven
when we came to the San Diego area. When we moved to Poway there was
only one traffic light and it was a stop and go light at the corner of Poway Road
and Pomerado Road. Our sewer bill was $4.00 per month and trash collection
was twice a week. Poway was a small town filled with friendly people. People
wished each other "Have a nice day! ", with sincerity.
Over the years I saw Poway change and grow. I remember just before Poway
becoming a city we were told that if we became a city we could control the
growth and keep it a city in the country.
I saw the leaders of this movement buy up land before Poway became a city
and only to sell it to developers and made handsome profits. I saw the Mayors
position become musical chairs with the city counsel members taking turns
becoming mayor. I saw you do whatever you wanted. We tried to vote you out
because we saw the corruption and good old boy attitude. We saw how north
Poway was favored and other areas of Poway dumped on without regard to
the people living there.
In 2013 I moved to be closer to family because of health issues and in
December 2017 moved back to sell my home. Because I had rented it for 4
years I then had to live in it for 2 years to get the tax break on the sale. When I
returned I tried hard to conserve water because of the drought. I only water
my grapefruit tree and my orange tree. I've been following the old saying if its
yellow let it mellow and if its brown flush it down.
In October I was gone for 6 weeks and I had just paid my water and sewer bill
before I left. When I returned I received the next bill that showed I used 1 unit
of water and a sewer bill of $96.65. 1 thought it was a mistake so I went to city
hall and asked. They said it was no mistake. As a single person living alone,
being very conservative with water I couldn't understand how my sewer rate
could be so high.
I was told it was a tier system. I went online to understand this system. The
only thing I could find was that Poway had 7 tiers and I could not find how the
tiers were organized. I wanted to understand why I was paying such a high
sewer rate.
I was told that I could complain but I should do it in writing since if I came
before you orally with my complaint it wouldn't hold any weight.
It is my understanding that if the whole town came to the city council meeting
and complain orally, you would not consider their complaints because they
were not in writing.
I think this is unethical. You were elected to serve the community. How can
you dismiss complaints just because it isn't in writing when people took their
time and trouble to come to city hall and tell you in person why they are upset.
Have you considered the fact that some of us can no longer afford to live in
Poway? Those of us that live on a fixed income cannot deal with these rate
increases, especially with the rates already ridiculously high.
I am looking forward to moving out of Poway and California.
II
SubaMt by' �ala75
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Submitted by January 08, 2019
Poway City Council Special Meeting Workshop, Agenda Item 1
Attached is a copy of the handout that I presented at the March 6, 2018
Poway City Council meeting during Public Oral Communications. While
the numbers represent the charges and rates in effect at that time and
that the actual rate might be different from what I presented, I believe
that the conclusions remain the same, that a flat sewer rate ($/unit)
would benefit those customers who conserve water and that the
customers with the most sewer usage would pay their "fair share" of
the sewer costs with a flat rate.
Please adopt a flat sewer rate for the upcoming 2019 year.
Thankyou
Joseph St. Lucas
14829 Sunrise Dr
Poway, CA. 92064
(858) 679-8386
Determine what a flat rate residential sewer usage charge would be.
Public Oral comments at March 6`h, 2018 Poway City Council meeting
This handout shows a chart with the current 7 sewer tiers, bi-monthly commodity
rates, number of people in each tier, and lines representing approximate ranges for
flat rate residential sewer usage. The spreadsheet shows the approved 2018
"residential" bi-monthly fees for the 7 tiers (determined by 85% of the average of
three years winter water usage), the bi-monthly revenue from each tier based on
the presented numbers within that tier per the Dec 19th 2017 presentation by staff
page 11 of 15, and then the total amount that would be collected from all 7
residential tiers. This gives the $777K figure. The charges are supposed to break
even with the revenue collected. The last charts are the city handouts.
The city has no way to tell how much comes from each residence so the cost to
process all the household residential sewer waste should be around the $777K.
Taking an average in each tier for their usage, getting a total for the units of water,
gives a flat rate of $4.03 that a household should be charged to break even. Going
into the high range and low range of the tiers gives $5.04 and $3.42 a unit. Tier 7
usage is left at 60 units for the average and the max.
The graph shows the bi-monthly cost vs the units and tiers with three estimates of
costs if a flat rate were instituted. Note that the first 3 tiers would break even or
save money if they were charged $4.03/unit. The upper tiers rates are
disproportional compared to the lower 3 tiers. If ANY flat rate would be used, the
upper tiers rates might double what they are now! But shouldn't that be the case?
If they cost more to process, shouldn't they pay more?
At some time in the past when rates were being discussed with a paid advisor, those
in the upper tiers complained that their water usage was mostly because of
watering their outside plants so their actual sewer usage was a lot smaller than one
might calculate. Yet recently staff has commented that the current method of
determining the Winter Water Usage for the sewer tier calculations is good.
These are contradictory statements.
According to the numbers, 8,690 residential customers (in Tiers 1, 2, and 3) out of
the total 11,408, or roughly 76% (3 of 4 residential customers), would benefit from
a flat fixed rate of $4.03/unit based on an average winter usage while maintaining
the same revenue income for the city. The remaining 24% would see their bi-
monthly bill increased.
Please give the flat rate sewer usage bi-monthly commodity rates consideration
when the next Water and Sewer rate discussions come up.
Thank you.
Joe St. Lucas
14829 Sunrise Dr
Poway 92064 jstlucas@gmail.com
IN
BVI
iVl'Baser usage
tunit
.03funit
$3.42tunit
FT
on Linear Rate oer
i
TierIncome/ Ave Units inTier = $4.03
Tierincome/Low Units inTier= $5.04'
Tier Income/ High Units in Tier
Bi -Monthly
Ave
Ave Total
Unitsat
Total Units
Unitsat
Total Units
Residential
Units in
Mwnber
Rate of Tier
Units of
Units in
Low End of
at taw End
High End of at High End
Tier
Tier
in Tl
(2018)
Tierincane
Tier
Tier
Tier
of Tier
Icer
of Tier
I
0-5
1201
$28.61
$34,360.61
3
3603
1
1201
5
6005
2
6-12
3722
$50.48
$187,886.56
4
33498
6
22332
12
44664
3
13-19
3767
$75.58
$286,216.66
16
60272
13
48971
19
71573
4
20-26
1055
$83.28
$87,860.40
23
24265
20
21100
26
' 27430
5
27-37
808
$97.86
$74,070.88
32
25856
27
21816
37
! 24896
6
38-50
381
$112.44
$42,839.64
44
16764
38
14478
50
19050
7
51+
474
$123.38
$58,482.12
60
28440
51
24174
60
28440
Total income from Residential =
$776,716.87
142698
IW72
227058
i
TierIncome/ Ave Units inTier = $4.03
Tierincome/Low Units inTier= $5.04'
Tier Income/ High Units in Tier
y. ✓Poway Sewer Uti i
wrs s e
Interest, Other Service Fees
$244,100
Revenue from Sewer Flow
(Residential based an portion of winter water use)
Tier No, of Accounts
Tier 1
1,201
Tier 2
3,722
Tier 3
3,767'"
Tier 4
2,055
Tier 5
808
Tier 6
381
Tier 7 {max.}
474
Non -Residential
2,354
Total Bi -Monthly Sewer Flow Charges $6,789,200
* Includes 469 Default R3* Customers
Tier 2 (6-12 !Units)
Tier 3 (13-19 Units)
Tier 4 (20-26 Units)
Tier 5 (27-37 Units)
Tier 6 (38-50 Units)
Tier 7 (51+ Units)
$75.98
$83.28
$97.86
$112.44
$123.38
Tier Based on 85% of the lowest winter water use averaged over
the last three years