Water Committee Meeting - August 10, 2021
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Water Committee Meeting - August 10, 2021
The Water Committee of the City of Sacramento met on August 10, 2021, at 1:00 p.m. via teleconference, chaired by Jeff Harris with members Katie Valenzuela and Mai Vang. The committee received updates on four agenda items: the Sacramento Utility Rate Assistance (SURA) program, a storm drainage measure planning schedule, water watch and efficiency efforts, and the American River Habitat Enhancement Site. Public comments were received on two items. The meeting adjourned at 2:06 p.m.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Daphne Harris (on Item 2): Questioned how storm drainage fee increases would be allocated, asking if costs would be distributed based on subdivision age and whether new developments would pay separate bonds. She advocated for a usage-based fee and for new developments to bear their own infrastructure costs.
- Daphne Harris (on Item 3): Reiterated concerns about flat fee allocation for new developments versus existing properties, and requested that fees be based on usage rather than a uniform pass-through.
Discussion Items
- Item 1 – Sacramento Utility Rate Assistance Program Update: Bill Busath, Utilities Director, presented a recommendation to change the SURA discount from the current average of 37.5% to a flat 25% discount. This change would keep the program sustainable under the current budget for four years and allow serving an additional 2,000 customers. A proposed renters assistance pilot was not recommended due to insufficient budget and the existence of state and federal programs for low-income renters. Councilmember Valenzuela expressed concerns about acting before understanding state/federal assistance impacts and requested data on SURA customer arrears and debt. Councilmember Vang asked about savings ($85,000 estimated) and emphasized the program's importance to District 8. Chair Harris suggested bringing the item to council once staff can answer outstanding questions. Committee consensus was to delay the council report until more information is available.
- Item 2 – Storm Drainage Measure Planning Schedule: Mike Voss (Senior Deputy City Attorney) explained the Proposition 218 two-step process for drainage rate increases (protest mailer and ballot election). Bill Busath presented the schedule: a $6/month average increase for residential customers, with a key survey in October and ballot election in early 2022, aiming for implementation July 1, 2022. Public outreach to councilmembers and stakeholders is ongoing. Councilmembers Valenzuela and Vang expressed strong support, noting the need to invest in aging infrastructure. Chair Harris requested future PowerPoints be included with agenda materials. The committee received and filed the report.
- Item 3 – Update on Water Watch and Water Efficiency Efforts: Bill Busath reported that Stage 1 Water Watch was declared in July. Water use per resident has rebounded only 4% from the last drought, and per capita use has dropped from 295 gallons/day (2000) to 170. The city recommends a voluntary 15% reduction (up from 10%) but is not recommending Stage 2 (which doubles fines). Chair Harris expressed deep concern about climate change and Folsom Reservoir levels, suggesting the city consider moving to Stage 2 to raise awareness. Councilmember Valenzuela supported stronger measures and asked about a perceived "water underuse fee"; Busath clarified it is a minimum wastewater charge. Councilmember Vang asked about the impact of fines. The committee recommended that staff present the option of moving to Stage 2 to the City Council.
- Item 4 – Update on American River Habitat Enhancement Site: Jessica (Water Forum) presented the Ansel Hoffman Habitat Enhancement Project, the 10th restoration project, to create spawning and rearing habitat for salmon. Construction is scheduled for five to six weeks starting soon. The project builds on past successes (1,600 salmon nests observed at Upper Sailor Bar in 2019). Public outreach includes tours in September. Councilmembers praised the project and suggested a committee workshop or site tour for public education. The committee received and filed the report.
Key Outcomes
- SURA Program: The committee did not set a firm date to forward the recommendation to council; staff will return after assembling requested data on arrears, debt correlation, and state/federal program implications.
- Storm Drainage Measure: The committee endorsed moving forward with the $6/month rate increase schedule and public outreach. Staff will brief councilmembers individually and return to the committee for an update in October/November.
- Water Watch: The committee recommended that staff bring the option of declaring Stage 2 of the Water Shortage Contingency Plan to City Council for consideration.
- Habitat Enhancement: The committee accepted the report and agreed to consider a special workshop or site tour focused on the project before the next regular meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Chair Staff is ready when you are ready to go. All right, everybody, welcome and uh thank you for coming to the water committee meeting of the city of Sacramento this August 10th, 2021. Madam Clerk, will you please call roll to attain a forum? Thank you. Council Member Valenzuela. Yeah. Council Member Vang. Here and Chair Harris. Present. So uh committee members, we've got four items on the agenda today, and I'd ask that so we can get through it. You know, we we've been in the squeeze the last few meetings, so I just asked you to keep your comments relatively succinct and to the point so we can get through the agenda. Also know that I've talked to the clerk about maybe extending the length of our meetings to an hour and a half, uh, so that we don't have this kind of time crunch. And it would also give her more time to transition to the subsequent meetings. Uh so we'll look at that, and maybe if our agenda gets really busy, we might consider going to a meeting every two months rather than quarterly. So that being said, if we could have the first item, please. The Sacramento Utility Rate Assistance Program, and I believe Bill Buseith is presenting. That's correct. Uh, Chair Harris, thank you. And uh Council members Vang and Valenzuela appreciate your time today and the opportunity to present to you. Um, I'm Bill Busaith, the Department of Directors for the City of Sacramento. Um, as soon as the uh there we go, we got a presentation coming up. And if you'll go ahead and move that forward, and our first thing that we're going to uh present is our recommendation on the Sacramento Utility Rate Assistance Program. Um we are going to be recommending that we move from the current structure to a flat 25% discount. Um you can you can see that that's less than the current discount or average discount uh that is being offered to uh our participants in this program. We're we've made this recommendation for two reasons. One is as you can see, it is at or above any other assistance that's being offered um throughout the state that that we are aware of anyway, or that we could find, and also it keeps us uh sustainable under the current budget at least for the next four years. Uh that includes uh sustainability uh under the current budget, um, including uh proposed rate adjustments uh in uh water and storm drainage. If those if those are successful, we we feel like we still would be able to stay in under the current budget. And so uh move forward. The comparison of the of what we're proposing and what the current discounts are over to the over to the right, the 27 and a half is it is the average of what we currently would be proposing. Uh the 37 and a half is what the average customer gets now. We have a very small number of what we call legacy participants who have been in the program since 2012 who are receiving uh significantly higher discount. Next slide. Um so go back to the slide before that. Um so uh as I'm as I mentioned, um our recommendation is go is is to go to the 25 percent. Um we're uh you know we're looking for input from the from the committee. Uh we're gonna be moving forward going to council in the next two to three weeks on this item. Uh and there'll be a this a similar presentation and a discussion at council. Um, whatever input here that we get here, we will we will note in the uh in the in the council report. Um next recommendation that we have before we start the discussion on this. Go ahead to the next slide. Um about two years ago, probably maybe three years ago now at the council member carr's request, we did a pilot project to see if it would be possible to do a renter's assistance program. And so we chose or he chose an apartment complex. We determined how many in that apartment complex were eligible, would be eligible for our SURA program. Um we calculated what their discount would be if they were if they were direct um water customers, and we paid them a one-time check of what that annual amount would be. Um, from that exercise, we've been able to extrapolate what that would look like throughout the city if we were to um institute a program like that, a renter's assistance program. You see the cost uh we would base it on the the 25% discount rate that we're proposing. Um the water benefit throughout the city would you see be a little bit over 1.2 million dollars, and the wastewater would be about $600,000 with a little bit under $100,000 for administration total being about 1.9 million dollars in cost, and that of course would be above uh more than our current budget uh that we have for this program. We recommend not moving forward uh with this program for two reasons, two main reasons. One uh we don't have budget under the current budget.
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