Item 6 Additional Material posted 9-7-21MEMORANDUM CityofPoway
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
(Agenda Related Writings/Documents provided to City Council or Staff after distribution of the
Agenda Packet for the September 7, 2021 Council Meeting)
DATE:
TO:
FROM:
CONTACT:
September 7, 2021
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
Carrie Gallagher, City Clerk ~
(858) 668-4535 or cgallagher@poway.org
SUBJECT: Item 6 -Set Public Hearing for Proposed Four-Year Water, Recycled Water, and
Wastewater Rates
Attached please find correspondence received after the agenda posting deadline.
Reviewed/Approved By:
---w endaserman
Assistant City Manager
1 of7
Reviewed By:
Alan Fenstermacher
City Attorney
Approved By:
C.
City Manager
September 7, 2021, Item #6
From:
To:
~
Aaron Beanan
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
Cc:
Subject:
Barry Leonard; John Mullin; DGROSH@POWAY.ORG; Steve Vaus; Caylin Frank; Chris Hazeltine; Melody Rocco
AGENDA ITEM #6 -WATER RATES
Date: Monday, September 6, 2021 6:25:54 PM
Aaron
I read with interest your Agenda Item #6 (Set Public Hearing for Proposed Four-Year Water,
Recycled Water, and Wastewater Rates) for Tuesday evening's City Council meeting.
I totally agree that the cost of capital additions should be amortized over the life of a project.
As your agenda item states, the life of water projects can be as high as 50 years. To burden
current ratepayers for benefits received by future ratepayers is unfair and creates a
intergenerational inequity.
Similarly, including fixed costs in commodity charges creates an inequity between current
ratepayers. While the City is attempting to decrease the amount of fixed charges in the
variable rates, it is doing so at too slow a pace . I realize that the City is trying to correct the
extremely poor rate design it has had for decades. To that point, several years ago, due to
conservation efforts by ratepayers, revenues received by the City did not cover all fixed
charges. The City placed a "temporary" surcharge of $0.75/unit; once again, using the variable
commodity charge to pay for fixed cost shortfalls. Good rate design should not integrate fixed
costs with variable commodity charges. Electric utilities segregate these cost categories into
(1) demand charges, based on peak demand denominated in kW and (2) energy (i.e.,
commodity) charges denominated in $/kWh.
I understand that the marginal cost of water to the San Diego County Water District --and,
therefore, to the City (with some mark-up) --may be $2100/ac-ft from local desalination
plants; whereas, the cheapest would be approximately $1000/ac-ft from MWD. My question
is : If City were to buy one more acre-foot of water, what would be the cost? That is, what is
the marginal cost of water? Also, what additional variable costs would be incurred --power,
chemicals, etc. --on a $/ac-ft basis?
Further, I would be interested to know the total current annual fixed cost of the City's water
system. Additionally, I would also like to know the number of meters the City has by meter
size; i.e., 5/8", 3/4", 1" fire, 1" through 811
•
I hope to have this in plenty of time before Tuesday night's Council Meeting. I would think
these data would be readily available. I apologize for the short fuse.
Thank you for your consideration of my request.
Jack Russ, P.E.
16251 Wind piper Road
Poway, CA 92064
(858) 254-9364 (mobile)
(858) 674-6108 (office)
jruss1@cox.net
2 of7 September 7, 2021, Item #6
From:
To:
Subject:
Date:
Steven E. Bauman
Steve vaus
Opposed to the water increase
Tuesday, September 7, 20211:30:16 PM
Steven E. Bauman
14624 Plumwood Street
Poway, CA 92064
808-896-8996
3 of7 September 7, 2021, Item #6
From:
To:
~
Qtr..Qerk
Cc:
Subject:
Steve Vaus: Barry Leonard; Caylin Frank: John Mullin; DGROSH@POWAY.ORG; Chris Hazeltine; Aaron Beanan
WATER RATES.xlsx
Date:
Attachments:
Tuesday, September 7, 2021 2:26:08 PM
WATER RATES.xlsx
I would like to speak to Item #6 at tonight's city council meeting.
I would also like to have the attached worksheet printed out for all council members and the
mayor and included in the record. I will be speaking from this document.
I shall be calling in and not attending in person.
Thank you.
Jack Russ, P.E.
16251 Windpiper Road
Poway, CA 92064
(858) 674-6108 (office)
(858) 254-9364 ( cell)
4of7 September 7, 2021, Item #6
METER
SIZE AREA NUMBER of TOTAL AREA MONTHLY Bl-MONTHLY Bl-MONTHLY
(inches) (in2) METERS (in2) CHG/METER CHG/METER REVENUES
0.75 0.440 12,120 5335 $ 74.58 $ 149.16 $ 1,807,876
1 0.783 959 750 $ 132.59 $ 265.18 $ 254,309
1.5 1.761 306 539 $ 298.33 $ 596.66 $ 182,578
2 3.130 285 892 $ 530.36 $ 1,060.73 $ 302,307
3 7.043 19 134 $ 1,193.32 $ 2,386.63 $ 45,346
4 12.520 5 63 $ 2,121.45 $ 4,242.91 $ 21,215
6 28.170 2 56 $ 4,773.27 $ 9,546.54 $ 19,093
8 50.080 2 100 $ 8,485.81 $ 16,971.63 $ 33,943
$ 2,666,667
TOTAL METER AREA (in 2) 7869
ANNUAL TOTAL FIXED COSTS (TFC) $16,000,000 $ 16,000,000
MONTHLY TFC/in2 $ 169.45
MARGINAL COST OF WATER ($/ac-ft) $ 2,100
GALLONS/ac-ft 325851
GALLONS/UNIT 748
MARGINAL COST OF WATER ($/UNIT) $ 4.82
5 of7 September 7, 2021, Item #6
From:
To:
Subject:
Date:
Joe St. Lucas
Steve Vaus.: cavlin Frank; pave Grosch; John Mullin; Barry Leonard; Chris Hazeltine
Item 6, New Water Rates
Tuesday, September 7, 2021 2:57:02 PM
Listed in this item is a statement that staff will monitor the rates and then yearly determine
whether they could be lowered since the suggested rates are a maximum. This would be done
administratively.
I'd like to suggest that the results of the yearly assessment are made public, either as a consent
item on an agenda or a non-voting workshop, so that the public knows what the results are,
and more importantly, that the rates were looked at by staff.
Thank you,
Joe St. Lucas
14829 Sunrise Drive
Poway 92064
6 of7 September 7, 2021, Item #6
From:
To:
Subject:
Date:
Dear Council,
Juliet vasel-Phillips
Steve vaus: Caylin Frank; Barry Leonard; John Mullin: Pave Grosch
Water bill increase
Thursday, September 2, 2021 3:50:00 PM
I have heard of the latest on what our future water bills will be .. My current water bill is
around $225. Next year, at a 10% increase, it will be at $247.50. For the year 2023 it will be
$269.80. For the year 2024 it will be $291.36. For the year 2025 it will be $314.67. That is a
$90 increase in four years. That is insanity! I currently have waterwise plants and do not have
grass so there is nothing I can do in my landscape to decrease water. Our family would have to
shower less in order to save $90. I am on disability so $90 is a big deal to our family's budget.
Please do not increase our water that much. It will be hard on low income and middle class
residents.
Mayor Vaus, you have not replied to any of my past emails. I expect an email response from
you on this matter. I find it unprofessional and rude that you would not respond to your
constituents.
Thank you for your future responses,
Juliet Vasel-Phillips
7 of7 September 7, 2021, Item #6