Utilities Rate Advisory Commission Meeting – May 27, 2015
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Utilities Rate Advisory Commission Meeting – May 27, 2015
The Utilities Rate Advisory Commission met on Wednesday, May 27, 2015, at 5:33 p.m. in Council Chambers, 915 I Street, Sacramento. The meeting included a consent calendar, three discussion calendar items, and a staff update on the solid waste rate assistance program. All discussion items were received and filed by the commission.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes for April 22, 2015: Approved unanimously (4–0, with two members absent).
Discussion Items
- Department of Utilities Accountability Plan Update: Director Bill Busath presented updates on community engagement for capital projects, drought response, water conservation, and the rate assistance program. Key points included:
- The city must achieve 28% water conservation under the governor’s executive order; conservation was 24% in April and tracking near 30% in May.
- If 28% is not met by mid-July, staff will recommend moving to Stage 3 (one-day-per-week watering).
- The rate assistance program has 1,250 participants; $6 million of the $7 million fund was returned to the general fund due to low demand.
- A separate meter acceleration program (starting FY16) will fund approximately $230 million in meter retrofits over four years.
- Commissioners asked about enforcement (first violation is a warning, escalating to $1,000) and education on watering practices; staff will develop educational materials.
- Department of Utilities Financial Update: Susan Goodison presented FY2014/15 year-end projections and FY2015/16 budget preview. Highlights:
- Revenue assumptions: every 10% conservation reduces water fund revenue by $3 million; FY15 budget assumed 20% conservation ($6 million reduction).
- FY15 projections show higher revenues and lower expenses (savings in chemicals, utilities, bad debt) than budgeted.
- FY16 budget assumes no rate adjustments and 20% conservation; additional 8% conservation would reduce revenues by $2.4 million, which could be addressed in a mid-year adjustment.
- Commissioners requested detailed budget breakdowns and clarification on surplus fund balances (water, wastewater, storm drainage).
- Department of Utilities Utility Rate Development Planning Update: Bill Busath outlined the rate development timeline and storm drainage rate implementation. Key points:
- Storm drainage has not had a rate increase since 1996; a rate increase will require a majority vote of property owners via mailed ballot (planned for 2016).
- Staff proposes changing the rate structure from room-count to impervious surface area for better nexus. A surgical change for vacant parcels (currently overcharged) is expected soon.
- A tiered water rate structure study will begin, with a proposal expected in FY18 after more meters are installed.
Member Comments & Staff Update
- Solid Waste Rate Assistance Program: Erin Treadwell (Department of General Services) reported that City Council approved a rate assistance program for solid waste, piggybacking on the Department of Utilities’ existing program. Eligible accounts will automatically receive the discount, adding approximately $1.07–$2.40 per month to bills over three years.
Key Outcomes
- All three discussion items were received and filed by the commission.
- Staff will provide the commission with detailed budget presentations, including fund balance surplus calculations and side-by-side scenarios for varying conservation levels.
- The meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m.
Meeting Transcript
We're gonna call the meeting to order. It's um on Wednesday, May twenty-seventh at five thirty-four p.m. Do we have a quorum? Roll call. Brian B. Aaron. Kevin Schubert, Stephen Archibald, Mithi Horner. Here. April Butcher. Carolynville Hunter. Here. You have a quorum. The next item on the agenda is our consent calendar. The first item is the approval of the minutes of April twenty second, two thousand fifteen. Everyone's had an opportunity to review the minutes. No, good. Okay. I would recognize um Timothy Horner. I move approval. Move by Timothy. I can second the motion, but I would like to say it'd be great to get that presentation. Brian B. Ering. Yes. Kevin Schubert. Yes. April Butcher. Yes. Carolynville Hunter. Yes. Motion passes. And then we could just get copies of that or make it available on the website or something. That's the agenda. We have three items on discussion calendar for oral presentation. The first one being the Department of Account Department of Utilities Accountability Plan Update. Good evening, Chair Veilhunter and members of the Commission. My name is Bill Busith. I'm the director of the Department of Utilities. First of all, I'd like to welcome you here and thank you for coming tonight. Appreciate uh the time that you spend. It's a great benefit for us, especially as we move forward into rate development, rate adjustments, and through rate approval. Um the assistance of this uh of this commission. Last time we went through this, it was invaluable, and I'm I I trust that it will be again. So we appreciate your time and and your and your commitment and your assistance. I'm just gonna give a uh a quick uh verbal overview of what you have in your uh in your um report. Um I'll just hit kind of hit the highlights uh of what's in there, and certainly uh when I'm finished, I'd be open to any questions that you might have. From a community engagement standpoint, uh we continue to aggressively outreach on our capital uh program. We have a lot of construction that's going on right now, and uh that is only gonna ramp up from here. Um and so our goal in our in our capital outreach is to minimize the impact on the residents. Um we can't eliminate the impacts on the residents, but we try to do whatever we can to let them know what's going on so that there are no surprises during construction.
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