Item 5.1 Additional Material posted 11-19-19City of Poway MEMORANDUM
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
(Agenda Related Writings/Documents provided to City Council or Staff after distribution of the
Agenda Packet for the November 19, 2019 Council Meeting)
DATE:
TO:
FROM:
CONTACT:
SUBJECT:
November 19, 2019
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
Faviola Medina, CMC, City Clerk .fV11
(858)668-4535 or FMedina@poway.org
Item 5.1 -Water and Wastewater Rate Study and Public Workshop
Attached please find correspondence received on Tuesday November 19, 2019, after the agenda
distribution deadline.
Reviewed/ Approved By:
Wendyaserman
Assistant City Manager
Reviewed By:
Alan Fenstermacher
City Attorney
Approved By:
Chris Hazeltine
City Manager
1 of 5 November 19, 2019, Item #5.1
l----
From:City Clerk
To:Ana Alarcon; Faviola Medina
Subject:FW: 11/19/19 Council Meeting Item 5.1 Water /Sewer Rate Study Public Workshop
Date:Tuesday, November 19, 2019 7:54:19 AM
From: Chris Cruse <cmcruse@cox.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2019 7:04 AM
To: City Clerk <cityclerk@poway.org>; Steve Vaus <SVaus@poway.org>; Dave Grosch <DGrosch@poway.org>; Caylin Frank <CFrank@poway.org>; Barry Leonard
<BLeonard@poway.org>; John Mullin <JMullin@poway.org>
Cc: Chris Cruse <cmcruse@cox.net>
Subject: 11/19/19 Council Meeting Item 5.1 Water /Sewer Rate Study Public Workshop
Councilmembers,
I am opposed to the proposed increases in fixed fees for water.
Option 2b will increase the fixed fee from $42.28 to $57.39, an increase of almost $15 per billing period.
Option 2c will increase the fixed fee from $42.28 to $71.12 , an increase of almost $30 per billing period.
I made a chart of all of the fixed water fees , starting in 1997. The proposed fixed fees are much larger and disproportionate to previous increases.
Option 2c would double the fixed fees from the fixed fees that were charged 3 years ago.
These fixed fees would impact the low volume water user the hardest. Why put such a burden on those who are using so little water? I do not understand the logic of saying that
everyone must pay equally for the fixed water charges. Some of these fixed charges are the cost of the legislative and administrative department (cit clerk, city manager, asst city
manager, council, etc.) About half of those costs are charged to our water and sewer bills, and about half are charged to the general fund and paid for with our property taxes. We
don’t pay equally for those services with our property taxes, we pay in proportion to the assessed value of our homes. Why should we pay “equally” for these costs when they are
paid via our water and sewer bills?
If we are going to be charged equally for access to the water and sewer system, then I think we should all receive “equal” benefits from that system. We should all be allotted an
equal amount of water each year. Those who need more water can then buy the water from those who do not need to use all of their water. That would make charging such
whopping fixed fees more reasonable.
Sincerely,
Chris Cruse
PS I am also opposed to increasing the sewer fixed fees.
2 of 5 November 19, 2019, Item #5.1
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
3 of 5 November 19, 2019, Item #5.1
$80.00
$70.00 /
$60.00
$50.00
$40.00
$30.00
$20.00
$10.00
$-
Fixed Water Charge 1997-2020
Proposed Fixed Water Charge
2020
25%
;;;71
97 9 8 99 00 01 0 2 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20
From:Wendy Kaserman
To:agendadocs resource; Carol Legg
Subject:FW: Water Rate Fixed and Variable Costs
Date:Tuesday, November 19, 2019 8:28:25 AM
This came in to all of the Councilmembers last night.
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Vaus <SVaus@poway.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2019 8:27 AM
To: Wendy Kaserman <WKaserman@poway.org>
Subject: FW: Water Rate Fixed and Variable Costs
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter De Hoff <pldehoff@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, November 18, 2019 8:04 PM
To: Steve Vaus <SVaus@poway.org>; John Mullin <JMullin@poway.org>; Barry Leonard
<BLeonard@poway.org>; Dave Grosch <DGrosch@poway.org>; Caylin Frank <CFrank@poway.org>
Cc: Chris Hazeltine <CHazeltine@poway.org>
Subject: Water Rate Fixed and Variable Costs
To City Council,
A number of years ago, Poway implemented a five (I think) tier water use system and, from what I heard at that
time, the upper water users significantly reduced their water use. I would like to know if the models used for the
current tier options have a means of estimating the likelihood and degree of change in water use from customers in
the higher water tiers. This would be important to use in the variable cost pricing calculations to ensure that the
variable costs can make up a sufficient amount of the fixed costs and keep the overall water fund reserves on target
over time. I don’t have the data to examine, so it is reasonably possible that this prior water reduction was not
significant enough to have an impact on the overall financial stability of the water fund, and that the primary driver
of this use volatility arises during state wide drought conditions.
Volatility in revenue, based on the variable rate, increases the chance that the water fund will require general
fund subsidization. At this time, and at least through the mid-term future, the general fund is predicted to have very
little headroom to absorb such temporary subsidizations without concomitant cuts to services. Increasing the fixed
rate will help to reduce this issue and lead to a more stable and predictable revenue stream that will allow the water
fund to meet its financial metrics.
Both the presence of a tiered variable rate structure and an increase in the percentage of customer covered fixed
costs play positive roles in improving the overall fairness of the bill across all customers. However, a steep increase
in the fixed costs will have a disproportionally negative impact upon those customers whose water use places them
in the lower use tiers. To improve fairness and to reduce price shock, the council may want to consider
implementing a policy of scheduled and incremental increases in the percent of fixed costs directly covered by the
customer, in the subsequent biannual rate adjustment meetings.
Given the history of water rates related issues in Poway, it is reasonable to expect that any increase in water
rates will result in discontent and protest from the residents. Most customers will benefit from a cost structure that
has a higher fixed rate portion as it will reduce some of that volatility and keep the changes in their bills from
actually being large.
Regards,
Peter De Hoff
4 of 5 November 19, 2019, Item #5.1
From:Faviola Medina
To:Ana Alarcon
Subject:FW: Water Workshop, Item 5.1, Nov 19 2019
Date:Tuesday, November 19, 2019 3:38:58 PM
Attachments:image001.png
Thank you,
Faviola Medina, CMC
City Clerk
City of Poway | City Clerk’s Office
13325 Civic Center Drive | Poway, CA 92064
fmedina@poway.org | 858-668-4535
From: Joe St. Lucas <jstlucas@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2019 3:33 PM
To: Steve Vaus <SVaus@poway.org>; Dave Grosch <DGrosch@poway.org>; John Mullin
<JMullin@poway.org>; Caylin Frank <CFrank@poway.org>; Barry Leonard <BLeonard@poway.org>;
Faviola Medina <FMedina@poway.org>
Subject: Water Workshop, Item 5.1, Nov 19 2019
City Council,
Of the options presented for the water and sewer rates, the options with the lowest fixed costs
should be approved. Those are 2b for water and 2b for sewer.
While there might be compelling reasons to select an option with a higher fixed rate, consider that
Poway's population is aging as exhibited by the demand for including space for the seniors in the
new Community Center. One thing in common with most retired seniors is that we're on "fixed
incomes" as people like to say. There is not a lot of room for major cost increases since Social
Security and Pensions are fairly fixed. Options 2c for water and sewer would likely provide hardship
for some seniors since the fixed costs, even with 0 water usage, are extremely large compared to
those under 2b.
Thank you,
Joseph St. Lucas
14829 Sunrise Dr
Poway 92064
5 of 5 November 19, 2019, Item #5.1