All right, now that all the council members are present, I call to order the December

Council meeting of the City of West Sacramento City Council, West Sacramento

Redevelopment Agency, and Finance Authority. We will begin with the land

acknowledgment. We would like to acknowledge that the land on which we

live, work, learn, and commune is the original homelands of the indigenous

people of West Sacramento who have stewarded this land throughout the

generations. We acknowledge and we thank the original inhabitants who have

occupied, maintained, and secured this place and who still exist on this land.

We respect and celebrate the many diverse indigenous peoples still connected to

this land which we gather. The council did not meet in closed session. There is no

report. We would like to invite our guests to join council and staff in the

Pledge of Allegiance and Mr. David Janz, our Parks Commissioner, would you please

come up to the podium and lead us to the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for

which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Mr. Janz.

As is noted on our agenda, city council is prohibited by state law from discussing or

taking any action on items that are brought up under item one for public

comment but it provides an important opportunity for a public forum the

public is given an opportunity at this time to discuss City Council issues not

listed on the agenda we do ask that anyone wishing to address the council on

this or any other item this evening to please fill out a request to speak card

and return it to the clerk and if there is anybody discussing an item on the

agenda I will ask you to pause and wait for the agenda item to come up and speak

there once the staff report has been read we open up the item for public

comment and the clerk will announce your name for you to walk up to the podium to

speak now in front of the clerk there is a timer to ensure that everyone has a

chance to be heard and we ask that all the comments be limited to the specified

number of minutes which is three minutes also in front of the clerk actually I

will ask how many people there are to speak in public comment and decide then

Also in front of the clerk is an analog flip chart which indicates which agenda item the council is currently considering

We also recognize that for some speaking in public can cause anxiety

So we requested there be no applause or boos cat calls or other demonstrations

Or I will narrow down the time to speak to 30 seconds each person

Furthermore so that we may maintain a civil discourse here in the chambers

We ask that those in attendance and those who address the City Council abide by the code of conduct posted and not speak in a loud

threatening offensive abusive or other disrespectful language that disrupts

disturbs otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting now this brings

us to item one presentations by the public on matters not on the agenda

within the jurisdiction of the council and each person has 30 minutes to speak

Madame clerk how many speakers are there at this time we have 19 speaker cards

for item one 19 speaker cards if we gave each of them three minutes it would be

an hour so we will narrow it down to two minutes per person at this point but I'm

Can you keep track of the clock for the two-minute mark? Thank you. And then can you please call the people up to speak guy Stevenson?

I'm speaking on behalf of this three sisters garden, and I think that is a

Useful thing and I think it's great for the community. It also helps young people stay focused

stay away from all kinds of bad stuff you know drugs and all that that that I

love it I drove drive by it all the time and I would like to see the city

extend their lease for that area because they're very productive in running it

and the food that they do grow and stuff there actually goes to the community so

So you got my support and I want you to extend their lease.

And the other part was, I have addressed this to you and Aaron many times.

I had an incident where I was riding in one of your VIA vans and they decided they wanted

to drive through the construction zone and they did nothing about it.

So I told them today if they don't address this and get rid of the person who did it,

that I'm going to take them to court.

And they didn't like that.

So you really need to focus on their safety and the people that run that program.

They need to come out, like I told you before, they need to come out of the office and go

ride and talk to the people and get their input.

Because a lot of the stuff that they're peddling out of here is not, it's only their agenda,

it's their narrative.

they're gonna keep it the way they don't know the problems if they got the

problems fixed it would be a great van service because they don't have this

problem in Woodland with the beeline you know beeline might be a little more

expensive but they're organized real organized but anyway God bless all of

you have a good night and take care of yourselves thank you mr. Steven

Samuel Ramos

Hello, Mr. Ramos.

Hello, everyone.

As a youth of the program, I just want to say it's a great opportunity for anyone looking

to educate themselves or if they need an outlet for their energy that's productive.

great space and I think the lease should be it should be extended just for the

sole purpose of educating youth and providing that outlet because there's

there's not many things in the community for people to get involved in like this

I think it's very unique and I think we would benefit as a whole if we kept this

location thank you guys thank you for the remainder of the public comment I'm

gonna call people up three at a time if you'd like to come up all three people

and the first person can speak and the two remaining people can wait in the

front chairs for their turn that would expedite this a little bit thank you

madam so I have Alfred Melbourne Damia Zhang and Christina Alvarez

Thank you, guys, Madam Mayor, City Council, for your guys' representation here.

It's always a pleasure to come here and speak, and today I have the pleasure to speak on behalf

of Three Sisters Gardens and the work that we're doing in the community.

I'm not sure if you all have been able to see this depiction of what the future of Three

and make sure it's right.

But our goal is to continue to transform spaces

within West Sacramento to transform unused vacant lots

into thriving urban farms where we can provide food.

We've been kind of beating this drum

and sounding the alarm for a minute now

where we need to have enough food

so that we can take care of ourselves

and train future generations how to do so also.

I think that it couldn't be more of a way

I think that it couldn't be more appropriate or more timely

when we have the federal government threatening to cancel SNAP

and creating further disparities and barriers.

Food should never be a pleasure.

It should be mandatory for all, but not just any food,

good, healthy, organic, nutrient-dense food.

And, you know, as we stay right here underneath the eye of the capital, fourth largest economy in the world, it gives us the perfect opportunity to show how West Sacramento is leading in urban farming and training our youth and supporting the next seven generations.

Thank you, guys.

Oh, before I go, I did want to mention there probably would have been many more people here tonight, but a lot of people that couldn't make it.

we have received over 1,000 signatures in support of this petition to request you all to

not just extend our lease but let's have the discussion and get us on the agenda for next

month so that we can potentially create a real solid partnership between the city of West

Sacramento and Three Sisters Gardens to be able to further assist and support our community.

I'd like to take a moment for a city manager to provide clarification on how things are put on the agenda.

Well, typically agenda items are brought one of two ways.

We have some of the more standard items that are part of the city's general business, things related to budgets and whatnot.

Those are typically scheduled by staff because those are part of the city's normal work.

Items can also be requested by city council members.

we have a process that's outlined in our council procedures manual that it

basically says that the council member can make a request for an item through a

process where they give written notification to our staff we then

agendize that as a future under the future item requests section of the

agenda and then as you've done before the council member has an opportunity to

describe the item to your colleagues and we take a vote at that time on whether

to place it on a future agenda or not generally you also look to staff to make

sure that we have the the bandwidth to get it on the agenda at the time that

you're requesting and give some feedback on that and then at that point we would

we would put it on a future agenda if the consensus among the council is there to

do it thank you and for that I just wanted to make sure that that

clarification is before the public is it at this time if there are requests

tonight to put something something on the agenda your response on something

like that on how that process works is that it cannot be put on the agenda

given a request from tonight it has to come through a member of the council and

then through the process I outlined and then the item would go on a future agenda

so it's kind of a two-step process for two meetings and it has to be approved

by council to be on a future agenda thank you so much for that okay

Dom Yuzang.

Hello.

I want to talk about my personal experience

with the Three Sisters Garden and how they've

impacted me and my community.

At first, I really enjoyed the urban farming,

and I thought it was really simple.

We get to provide food for the community.

But it became a lot much more than that.

I learned that this.

This organization also wanted to dismantle mass incarceration.

They wanted to develop youth leaders,

and all on top of providing for low-income individuals.

And that altruism really inspired me to speak up,

use my voice for others,

and I guess they developed my own youth leadership in that way.

and also we've had some guest speakers from partnership organizations and they've told us

how much we've impacted their own communities as well because we provide our crops to them

and they cook meals and send them out to low-income individuals as well and they have told us that

they could not have done it without us. And that impact is really big considering that

we have a lot of partners and if we weren't there to provide crops to them then their

own supplies will diminish and we will reach even less people. And so overall I believe

that a longer lease with this organization will improve the impact we have on the entire

community and maybe we can even reach more.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for your email.

Christina Alvarez.

And if Lexi Wheeler, Chris Bruce, and Alexander Dunn could come up to the front and take three

seats in the front row?

Good evening.

My name is Cristina Alvarez and I'm the chair of the Women's Committee for LACLA, the Labor

Council for Latin American Advancement, AFL-CIO Sacramento Chapter.

I am here today as a community member and as a witness to the positive impact Three

Sisters Gardens has had, not just on our community, but on the lives of volunteers,

of youth, of a lot of people.

And I'm here to request that this item be placed on the January 21st City Council meeting

and to extend that lease.

This is a program that, if you can see, this room is full of witnesses and living evidence

that programs like Three Sisters Garden are functioning.

And in a city where we deal with food crises, housing crises, homelessness crises, having

Having access to healthy food when diabetes is a big, big pandemic or epidemic, not just

in our city but in the country, having access to healthy, local grown food, it's a really

important puzzle, piece to this big puzzle of something that the city can participate

in.

So I ask that it be included and extended on the next meeting, please.

Lexi Wheeler.

Hi, I'm Lexi.

I'm here speaking off behalf of Three Sisters Gardens.

The garden is very important to our community.

They help out the homeless with giving out vegetables.

They've helped out me personally because I'm low income and I really benefit on the vegetables.

This garden has also helped out my partner, Carl, with a job.

He's been working for the garden since like 2019.

and I go up to the farm like every morning

and I go see all the farmhands

and they all say nice to me

and they're all nice to me.

It just makes me happy seeing the farm every day.

It's just beautiful.

All the farmhands work really hard on their job

and it would just mean the world to extend the lease

because it's just very important to our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Chris Bruce.

Greetings, Madam Mayor, City Council.

My name is Chris Bursey and I'm here today with my team and with over a thousand signatures of support to request that City Council and the mayor vote to include Three Sisters Gardens long-term lease of Fifth and Sea Farm to if not the next City Council meeting then the soonest agenda for discussion.

When food stamps were cut last month, so many people reached out in a panic for food for

their families and we were able to provide for free.

We are asking for a permanent space right here in the city where the people are so that

if anything like this happens again, and it will, we are prepared to answer the call.

This isn't just a proposal, it's already a working solution that can only get better

with the support of the city.

And we have more plans of how we can continue to grow food, restore native plant and animal

ecology, support our unhoused neighbors, guide our youth and build community.

Shout out to the TSG farmhands most especially and managers, volunteers and interns because

they are the ones out there in the fields every day tending the land.

They make the veggie bags for families in need.

These are the real people behind all this work.

And it's them, our youth and everyone we provide for, who stand to lose if this space is ever

taken from us.

Thank you for your time and for your service to this community.

I apologize, Chris.

I think that's the third time I've misspoken your name.

I'll remember it next time.

Alexander Dunn.

Hello, everyone.

Honorable City Council members, thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

I'm Alexander and I am a West Sacramento local.

I am deeply invested in the well-being

and future of our community.

Today I stand in support of Three Sisters Garden,

an organization that embodies the principles

and human rights of food sovereignty.

So access to land and availability to grow food

are fundamental human rights.

And through their work, Three Sisters Garden

is ensuring that our community can thrive

sustainably and equitably.

excuse me by renewing the lease for three sisters gardens for a long-term

period such as five years we are not just supporting a garden we are

supporting the very fabric of our community we are we are empowering our

youth fostering education and cultivating a sense of belonging and

self-sufficiency this initiative is a powerful testament to what our

community can achieve when we prioritize people over profit. We must remember that this is more

than just a garden, it's a movement towards food justice, equality, and sustainability.

It's about reclaiming our right to nourish ourselves and our future generations. I urge

the council to see this not as a debate, but as a moral imperative. Let us stand together as a

and give three sisters garden the stability,

excuse me, and support they deserve.

By doing so, we are not just preserving green spaces,

we are preserving our community's dignity and future.

I thank you for your time and your consideration.

Thank you so much.

And Audrey Campbell and will Alejandro Rosendez and Ann

come up front and take two seats in the front row?

Hello, my name is Audrey Campbell.

I live in Elk Grove actually, so I made the 30 minute drive out here to speak to everyone

and I also make the 30 minute drive every morning that I volunteer at the Three Sisters

Garden.

For me personally, to share a little bit with you guys, I'm a 28 year old widow.

I just lost my husband in August,

and the garden has been the most incredible space for me

to slow down in life, reconnect, watch something grow,

and understand that I'm gonna be okay in life as well.

Like some of my other volunteers and farmhands have said,

the garden is definitely a special place for everyone,

a very welcoming place,

and a place where you can truly feel yourself

and feel safe and know that you are loved by everyone there.

I would just like to say that this space will continue to do great things and I'm

very very fortunate to have found it thank you thank you so much and we are

also sorry for your loss Alejandro

good evening City Council members my name is Alejandro and I'm the youth

coordinator at three sisters gardens i'm also a graduate from uc davis i study sustainable

agriculture and food systems now i stand before you here for the second time to once again advocate

for a long-term lease at our fifth fifth and c street farm and request that you hopefully put

this matter on future agendas to vote on so as a youth coordinator i've had the privilege of

educating and leading our youth through a meaningful farm work experience

that empowers them to grow nutrient-dense food and give back to their community.

So our programming provides a unique opportunity for you to learn about

sustainable food production while getting paid for the time and work

that they put in. This year I've led three cohorts through winter or spring,

summer, and fall and that totals to over 60 jobs created for our youth this year.

Our interns learn about urban farming basics, land stewardship, food and

culture, the future of farming as it relates to climate change, and civic

engagement. So I've seen through my experience with the youth, they really

come out of their shell. I could tell that the farm is a space where they can

grow and thrive and really feel that empowerment. You know at a young age

that's something that really sticks with you for a long time and that's something

that youth need as they grow into older ages. And so this is a very special

place and we hope that I hope that you take this matter seriously as it relates

to the future and well-being of our community so thank you very much thank

you so much for being such a great role model for our youth

and

good evening members of the council I'm here to second all the comments

supporting three sisters garden specifically requesting that the

Council request that be added to the January agenda

to discuss the long-term lease.

Three Sisters Garden has been doing beautiful work,

inviting in and building community, and they,

sorry, and they support food justice

and teach through action what that really means.

Feeling connected to our food,

understanding how to grow it,

caring for each other and the land long-term.

We opened the meeting with the discussion

the land and stewardship and i think this is a way to put that into action stewardship takes

commitment over time so a long-term lease of five or ten years would support their work as it

deserves and as we all need especially amid the financial environmental crises that we face i

think it's really exciting to think about what could be built on a five-year timeline or longer

and encourage you to dream toward that too thank you so much

Pauli DeBartolo and would Aaron Larson and Mark Gallaviz have a seat in the front row?

Good evening, Mayor and Council members. My name is Pauli DeBartolo. I'm the president of the Sacramento Architecture and Design Foundation and a professor at Sac State.

I provided you all with a detailed letter a couple of weeks ago, but tonight was important enough to be here to express my support for the Three Sisters Gardens team and their commitment to this community.

I've had the opportunity to witness the passion of this team on multiple occasions.

Their participation in the international creative storytelling program Pecha Kucha uplifted and inspired a room full of architects and designers earlier this year, including some of my students.

They also welcome my Sac State students to their Fifth and Sea Farm to provide them with a real-world site to design a project that incorporates the opportunities and challenges of designing adjacent and urban farm.

I urge you as the Council to nominate this conversation worth having and to extend the long-term lease securing their mission for years to come by requesting this topic be placed at the earliest possible next Council meeting.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Erin Larson.

Good evening. This is going to be kind of short because I'm not really a fan of public speaking,

but this is really important to me. So my name is Erin Larson, and I'm a volunteer at Three

Sisters Gardens as part of the College Corps program at UC Davis. 40,000 pounds of food.

That's how much food Three Sisters Gardens has given out to people in need so far,

and that number grows every day. Three Sisters Gardens is a pillar of strength and community

growth in West Sacramento and is absolutely vital to the city's future. At a time when programs like

SNAP are under attack, we need your help now more than ever. Please put a vote for the 5th and C

Farms long-term lease on the agenda for January 31st or as soon as possible. With your help,

we can protect our local barrier against food insecurity and continue to support the most

vulnerable people in our community. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you. You did a great job.

Mark.

Good evening. Hello, Mark. My name is Mark Galaviz. I do the weekly food distribution on Fridays for the TSG.

I just kind of want everyone to think about, like, what do we want West Sac to look like in 25 years,

right I mean do we want it to look like everywhere else or should it have its

own flavor of culture community and education

Sacramento is the farm to fork capital but TSG is getting people involved with

the farm part which is where the real impact is as you might be hearing

tonight the three sisters are incredible and unique I mean really where else do

you see something like them and if the lease ever were terminated what would

even replace it you know something as remarkable it's quite unlikely probably

it would just be some building that would generate a nominal amount of tax

revenue and and that's fine but probably nothing that noticeably moves the needle

for any metric in the city nor will it bring in anybody this random building

will not do what the three sisters does I mean I've seen people come from Oakland

and further you know people coming here to research it so that they can set up

their own in their own city and I mean people from the colleges nearby you know

it's it's quite a resource and maybe West Sacramento never really will be the

most notable city in this region but it can become a bastion of peace and

prosperity through the efforts of the three sisters garden the three sisters

do not ask for anything and in return they give everything I know every Friday

I give the food away and they are absolutely the type of people that you

should be supporting in every possible way thank you so much thank you

Veronica Sotelo Isaac Fran yo right for heo and Rhonda Pope Flores

so Isaac your first

Hi, my name's Isaac. I'm a farmhand at Three Sisters Garden. I've been working there for about a year and four months. I'm here again to request a long-term lease for our 5th NC Farm. The real question is why can't we get a long-term lease? Not only do I want to know, I think everybody else wants to know.

All we do is give away food, we feed families, and we make the town look way better.

If we had a building, it'd just be way better.

We have people from high schools, colleges, other community places that just come to do whatever,

and we have two storage containers and one porta potty.

If we had a building, it would be way better.

we'd be able to give away more food and we would just thrive way more we already do a lot for the

community imagine if we had a building please give it to us thank you thank you veronica

hi good afternoon i'm veronica um two of my grandsons and a granddaughter work at the three

Sisters Gardens. I just think it's an amazing program. To me, it grabs the youths, the young

youths, and it teaches them responsibility. My grandsons have learned so, so much from Alfred

and everybody else in the community. I spread the word to the church community where they can come

and get produce on Fridays because, you know, everything is just so expensive now. So they

I REALLY ENJOY IT.

I REALLY HOPE THAT THEY ARE GOING TO GET WHAT THEY NEED

TO EXPAND WHAT THEY'RE DOING.

IT'S A GREAT PROGRAM.

THANK YOU.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

HELLO, RHONDA.

our person sorry um we just came out of native american heritage month this is a native american

based anyways i'll just leave it at that um i i do want to back up a little bit um i am slightly

concerned that um and this goes for everyone that if a council member brings something to the agenda

or something that their community member brought to their attention that would like to be brought

to the agenda that it has to be subject to other council members that represent other areas of a

different district to vote on that i feel like each council member should have the right to bring

issues to that affect their district to the agenda without being vetoed or whatever it is

that didn't get us on the agenda so i'm slightly concerned and i think you should revisit that

process um i guess i'm just gonna bounce around so i um i grew up on annis street and i grew up

watching alfred grow up as a little boy and the man that he's become now um wow

that's all i can say um see in this room filled with people um you have something that promotes

goodness, health, mental health. You have a room filled with young people who it's very hard to

come up and speak. And you have all these young people that have come up here and they have spoke

in favor. Like, wow, this is just, this is huge. But it's also discouraging because

Broderick and Bright Neighborhood Association was created because we couldn't get you guys to

listen to us with the voting, the map issues. And so here we are again, this feels like deja vu.

When you have something good that is brought to the community, my gosh, don't let it go.

Don't lose like you lost.

Wright and Broderick Community Center.

Matt Weaver, Justine Kanzler, and Maria Grahalva.

Thank you, Rhonda.

Hi, Matt.

Evening.

Council Mayor, thank you for the two minutes tonight.

I have to say this organization here today is very impressive.

I think this is the second meeting I've been at where many people from this organization have spoken.

I don't know the economics.

I don't know the background on the issue.

But I know this many young people coming out to speak and find their voice in the public domain is very, very encouraging.

and as I just heard it's actually really discouraging that this many people need

to speak up to get on to an agenda but such as it is and that's why I'm here to

speak on items that are not on the agenda. A few years ago the council

decided that cannabis was a strategic imperative and here we are a few years

later with another year lapsed and I don't see anything on the agenda

reinforcing what was a council priority. I do know of a number of liquor licenses

awarded conditional use permits granted and you know that process run rampant

but we bottleneck and stonewall with new imaginary maps process that didn't work

out equity dollars of half million of equity dollars just lost just left on

the table within action and then we don't wonder why we don't have money to

maybe renew a lease for an organization like three sisters gardens I compel you

guys to say hey was this cannabis discussion a few years ago really a

strategic initiative and why on earth would a city this size stonewall such a

simple issue that was a priority coming from this council so that's all I've got

Thank you, Matt.

Good evening, council members. My name is Justine Kanzler.

I have lived in Sacramento for almost all of my life.

I'm here to urge the members of the West Sacramento City Council to raise and approve a council meeting item addressing a possible long-term lease of 5th and C, for the 5th and C farm for Three Sisters Gardens.

Volunteering at Three Sisters Gardens has helped me find my path.

After graduating college a couple years ago, I moved back home to my hometown Sacramento.

I was not sure how I was going to start my career coming out of school,

and I wanted to connect with my community and learn more about regenerative agriculture.

I became a regular that helped bag fresh produce for many community members

and was able to take some extra home, which was something that always made my day.

I did this at the Fifth and Sea location, one of over five farms that, in particular,

this location houses some of the most important infrastructure for the nonprofit, a place

to store produce from harvests, and an area to gather the community.

Since then, I have helped host a regenerative agriculture forum, which Alfred spoke at,

and continue to engage in climate-related volunteer work.

Now I am pursuing a career in climate communications and continue to learn more about the importance

of decolonizing our systems.

And these efforts go hand in hand,

which is why I am here tonight.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, and thank you for your future profession interests.

Hola, Maria.

Under the Americans with Disability Act,

I'm going to be requiring three minutes

because two minutes is not sufficient for me.

and so please know that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, please call the next person up.

Susan?

Happy holidays before I get started.

I had absolutely no idea I'd be saying anything tonight.

However, today when I walked in to lease something at the high school for my granddaughter,

I saw a sign that said food pickup, 2.30, for the students.

They don't have food.

And these guys grow food.

And our students at River City High School, sitting right in front of it,

is once a month they give food and clothing that people will donate, give.

The garden provides many things.

but to think in our society with all that's happening out of D.C.,

what's happening here is affecting these families and these kids

and their brothers and their sisters.

My privilege bubble got popped big time.

You know?

Stubbing your toe on reality sucks, but it's good.

Anyway, the garden is needed.

It's needed for every reason everybody said.

I can't speak to it.

I know every time I've gone there, there has been nothing but a good feeling there, and

it's so hard to come by.

So anyway, thanks for your time.

Please get it on the agenda.

It's really critical.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have no additional request to speak on item number one.

All right.

We're closing the public comment.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

We need to continue with the quorum.

Mr. City Manager.

I would recommend a recess at this point, just for your colleague's sake.

Yeah, thank you.

We will have a recess at this time.

I for you

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

TO THE COUNCIL MEETING. AND THE MEETING HAS BEEN ADJOURNED

DUE TO A TERRIBLE DISPLAY OF COMMENTS MADE TO OUR FELLOW COUNCIL MEMBERS.

AND TO MY COLLEAGUES, I WILL MAKE SURE THAT IF THE SITUATION HAPPENS AGAIN, THAT WE ADJOURN

THE MEETING IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THOSE COMMENTS CAN CONTINUE.

AND, MADAM MAYOR, COULD YOU READORATE WHAT THE CODE OF

CONDUCT IS FOR PUBLIC COMMENT?

WE ALSO RECOGNIZE THAT FOR SUB...

LET ME SEE, WHERE IS THE CODE OF CONDUCT?

FURTHERMORE, SO THAT WE MAY MAINTAIN A CIVIL DISCOURSE HERE IN THE

CHAMBERS, WE ASK THAT THOSE IN ATTENDANCE AND THOSE WHO ADDRESS

THE CITY COUNCIL ABIDE BY THE CODE OF CONDUCT POSTED AND NOT SPEAK IN

threatening offensive abusive or other disrespectful language that disrupts

disturbs or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting

thank you um before we get the meeting started I'd like to make just a quick

statement debated walking out and going home just now because what happened just

now is not how we do business in West Sacramento it is disrespectful it's it's

is plain mean and that's not how people should be treated who are trying to run

a city we are given an opportunity to serve our community and there are a ton

of people in this room who have done a ton of work to get to where we're at

right now for some important items that we need to continue doing business on

and so I chose to come back because it's time for us to work but this is not how

we do business in West Sacramento if it happens again I will immediately walk

out and the meeting will be done. I'll follow up that comment it won't be

tolerated. You can't be disparaging we're very very clear about the rules our

mayor has already also made it clear that we will just end the meeting so

mess around and find out. The only reason why we came around here why we came

back is because of all of the people that are here to actually do real

business to actually make sure that the things that they came to get accomplished

our jobs, we want to do our jobs. But we won't be abused. We won't have our

children spoken about or anything else along those lines. I want to be very, very

clear. It's not fair to our staff who are also disparaged. It's not fair to them

and the hard work that they do. And it's not fair to the people that have come

here who have waited to get these things accomplished. It's not fair to any of

them we're going to get business done but we will not be abused while we're

doing it

all right we will continue I said what I said we will continue proceeding with

the meeting and I have spoken and going to continue to make sure that we abide

by the code of conduct moving forward now this brings us under item 2 actually 2

through 8 we have conduct consent agenda items are there any requests to remove

an item for questions comments presentations by the staff none all

accept a motion to approve agenda item 2 through 8 seconded all right madame

click before I move forward are there any requests to speak under public

comment we have no request to speak on any of the consent agenda items thank

you and madam clerk councilmember alcala moved and councilmember early

seconded please call the roll councilmember Akala councilmember early

councilmember Orozco mayor pro tem so PZO hall mayor Guerrero aye all right

next we have item the next item next on the agenda is the public hearing for the

formation of the West Sacramento tourism marketing district I'll now in but so it

It is under the agenda item under public hearing and consideration of resolution 25-127, declaring

results of the majority protest proceedings and establishing the West Sacramento Tourism

Marketing District.

And there is a script that I've been given to speak off of, but that was not included

on the script and I just want to make sure that it's read in.

And now I'll invite staff to present the report.

Ms. Megan Stiles, please proceed.

evening mayor and council members so tonight we'll be conducting a public

hearing on the formation of the West Sacramento tourism marketing district

this hearing is being conducted to receive public comments regarding the

levy of assessments and to allow affected business owners the opportunity

to submit written protests on October 15th 2025 petitions in favor of formation

were submitted by assessed lodging businesses which represented over 50% of

total assessment this majority petition allowed the council to initiate proceedings for formation

council adopted resolution 25-107 which declared the city's intent to establish the wstmd

the resolution also set the required november 5th public meeting along with tonight's public hearing

for consideration of formation on november 3rd the public meeting was held and no comments were

were received from affected lodging businesses.

One comment was received from an outside agency.

At the conclusion of the public hearing,

staff respectfully recommends that the council adopt a resolution

25-127, which will result in the formation of the West Sacramento

Tourism Marketing District and the levy of assessments

on certain lodging businesses.

So I'm available to answer any questions

before we open up the public hearing.

Thank you.

Councilmember Ocala.

What was the agency?

Am I allowed to speak on that, Madam Clerk?

I'm sorry, what was the question?

Your microphone's not on.

You put your microphone on?

Put your microphone on.

She can't hear you.

Wasn't on.

I'm sorry.

You mentioned an outside agency.

I asked what the agency was and put the comment.

And am I allowed to speak on that?

yes it was a visit YOLO and they had just asked for us to take a look at some

of the marketing materials and things that they are currently doing we do have

some hotels that have opted in to visit YOLO in the past and they just asked for

us to kind of partner with them and reach out to them in the future if we

pursue the district okay thank you mm-hmm all right any other questions among

the council members about this? Okay, if not, I'll open it up to public hearing.

Madam Clerk, are there any requests to speak? We have no requests to speak on this item.

All right, thank you. Hearing no further questions. Okay, we already went through that.

Is there a no...

Okay, are there any additional... Okay, again, this is a script. I don't know why.

Don't say any of this. It says, thank you. Are there any additional speakers?

Are there any additional speakers?

No?

Okay.

Hearing now, we will close the public comment.

Okay, Mayor, majority protest proceedings.

All right.

We will now proceed with the majority protest portion of the hearing.

I will ask the clerk to report on the number of written protests received today.

We have received zero written protests today.

Zero.

All right.

Thank you.

At this time, are there any additional written protests to be submitted?

If so, please bring them forward now.

Nobody's running to the clerk.

Okay, hearing none, the acceptance of the written protest is now closed.

We saw nobody coming to provide anything, and the clerk mentioned there were none.

Clerk, do you have any other comments?

The final count is zero.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Based on the final tally, which there is nothing, a majority protest under state law.

If a majority protest exists, the council may not proceed with the levy of the assessment,

which there are none.

We have no majority protest.

The council will now deliberate on this item.

Council members, any discussion?

I have one comment.

Oh, yes.

Mayor Patempsopizio-Hulp, please speak.

Yes, I'd just like to thank you, Megan, for all your work on this.

on this this has been two plus years in the making and I know it was a lot of

meetings and a lot of outreach and I just want to thank you and give

congratulations to the hotel community for this it's really monumental step in

moving West Sacramento forward so thank you for everything absolutely yes thank

you madam mayor I actually need to take a moment to thank mayor pro tem vernal

Sopizio Hill for taking the leadership on this item and working so that she came

on to this council with the intent of inspiring movement in the business

community as a prior CEO of our chamber of West Sac Chamber of Commerce she came

back as a council member with an eye toward improving the contributions to

our small business and bolstering their ability to do work in our community and

to thrive and even though most people I think are pretty unfamiliar I mean

unless you're in the know, right?

What a tourism improvement district would look like,

especially in West Sacramento,

the small, innovative little city

that maybe didn't have a strong business community

necessarily in the complexion that we have right now.

But we have a lot of historical industry,

industrial parks and whatnot, it's different.

Now we're burgeoning in a different way.

And so when it comes to organizing

a tourism improvement district,

I just really appreciate her forthwith

knowledge and passion toward the project it came up two years ago at a

strategic planning a retreat for us along with the pbids which should be a

business improvement district that I hope that we can revisit as we move

forward but special kudos for that strategic positioning and it's I'm

proud to actually have the opportunity to have this before our council tonight

any other comments

I second that. City Councilmember Karina Orozco, I think that this particular addition to what

is going on in our city and improving our business is important. We have heard from

businesses that we do need to boost a lot more activity to help them be successful.

Small businesses don't have revenue lying around to market what they have to offer.

And so hopefully with this new opportunity, we can, you know, I know Visit Yolo has been

interested in doing business here.

They've been doing outreach, Visit Sacramento.

This has been a lot of ideas, but putting something like this together, I think, is a

huge step in that right direction.

And look forward to seeing how it produces the good work in our economy of West Sacramento.

Okay.

I'll accept.

If there are no further comments, I'll entertain a motion.

So moved.

Early seconds.

Okay.

Mayor Pro Tem Silpezio-Hull moved and Council Member Early seconded.

Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Ocala?

Aye.

Council Member Early?

Aye.

Council Member Orozco?

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Silpezio-Hull?

Aye.

Mayor Guerrero?

Aye.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Megan, for all your hard work on this.

Thanks.

Congratulations.

Next, under regular agenda, item 10 in the Finance Department is a workshop on water and

sewer rate studies and proposed rate adjustment.

So we have our finance director, Ms. Roberta Rapper.

I think we have several speakers on this,

and hopefully everybody can introduce themselves.

And I think in this particular agenda item,

we will have several speakers, and after each one,

we will open it up for questions,

because it's very dense in each presentation,

so we just want to make sure everybody has a chance

to break it down and ask all the questions they need to ask.

they need to ask thank you we have one request to speak on this item right now could you please cut

me off at any point and remind me when that happens thank you they're like a diorama what's happening

props props okay

all of this is on there we go

i didn't see a light all right good evening uh yeah we've got a a large presentation um there's

a lot of information in here tonight and so we'll be stopping along the way as well and we'd love

for you to ask questions as you have them. So all right so we are here tonight to present the updated

utility rate studies for the city's water and sewer utilities and receive council direction on

the desired scenario and direction for staff to begin the legally required proposition 218

notification process.

So we'll start with a little bit of background to catch up both the council members and the

public on the history of rates in the city and changes and impacts since the last rate

update.

Then I'll hand it over to our Public Works O&M director to describe the city's utilities,

including issues and challenges currently facing each utility.

Our capital projects director will provide an update on infrastructure projects that

are planned and ready to go and proposed for construction over the next few years.

The staff background will be followed by an overview of the rate study, the rate setting process by our consultant Rick Simonson with HF&H, who will also review the resulting rate scenarios.

So we have four for each utility tonight.

And finally, HF&H will provide a comparison of the proposed rates under the scenarios to rates of surrounding jurisdictions.

So the council may see where the city would fall regionally as it relates to utility service costs.

And we also have a slide to describe our low-income rate assistance program.

So, of course, you're welcome to ask questions throughout the presentation.

We also have pauses built in to allow for that after each utility discussion.

And we've also got time set aside at the end for council to hold a workshop, ask questions, provide feedback.

And we've got several subject matter experts here to answer your questions, as you mentioned.

Okay, so for background.

First, the city owns three utilities, water, sewer, and refuse or solid waste garbage.

Refuse is excluded from the current process.

They're currently working to release an RFP for waste hauler services.

Those services are currently provided by waste management.

And they've decided to hold off on steadying rates until a new contract is negotiated.

And we've got future costs that are known.

So as such, tonight we're here to discuss our water and sewer rates only.

Our water and sewer funds are enterprise funds, which means they operate as business-like activities and must generate revenues sufficient to cover the expenses of the utility.

Revenues are generated through rates charged to customers who use the service and are calculated through the development of a cost-of-service study or a rate study.

Utility revenues may not fund anything other than the utility service for which those revenues are collected.

And while general tax revenue could legally fund utility costs, it's not recommended, it's not a best practice, as a city has large public safety, roads, and other costs that have no dedicated funding source for which general tax revenues are typically in high demand and competition.

So the last rate studies were completed in 2011 and 2017, and each time included some of the lowest rates in the region, as the focus was on cost-cutting measures, keeping rates low for customers during and after the Great Recession.

The last rate adjustment was implemented July 1, 2021, so about four and a half years ago.

The water and sewer master plans, which identify all necessary infrastructure

investment in each utility were completed in January 2025 and adopted by council.

And since then we've worked with our consultant HFNH to develop cost of service studies for each

utility, which we're presenting to you tonight. We presented this information last month to the

EU Commission for feedback prior to this workshop. At that time staff, we had three scenarios and

and staff recommended scenario two for the ideal balance

between funding necessary infrastructure projects

and mitigating impact on ratepayers.

And while the EU Commission generally agreed with staff,

they recommended enhancing the staff recommended scenario

by adding some priority projects at the lowest overall cost,

resulting in a new scenario.

So that's scenario number four.

We'll be presenting all four to you tonight.

All right, this slide shows a comparison

of the city's current rates.

I think this is a thing too but I don't know how to use it. It's the different

colored one, the third one there, is the city's current rates, compared to our

surrounding agencies, most of whom utilize SAC sewer for sewer treatment

costs. So on all of these charts and all of the things showing the total bill

amount, that total bill amount will include the pass-through cost for SAC

sewer, just for comparison purposes and so everyone can see the total bill

impact. West Sacramento's current combined water and sewer rates are among the lowest in the region,

as I mentioned, with only Roseville and Folsom slightly lower and all other surveyed agencies

higher. When comparing agencies, however, rate levels must be viewed in the context of a lot of

other factors, right? System age, capital needs, and operating complexity. West Sacramento's

infrastructure profile and long-term reinvestment needs most closely resemble those of Davis and

the city of Sacramento. Both have older systems with significant renewal and regulatory requirements.

In contrast, the other agencies of Roseville, Folsom, Lincoln, and Elk Grove have newer

infrastructure and lower long-term capital burdens, making their rates not directly comparable.

Why some of them are a lot higher than ours, I'm not sure. And then Woodland has the highest rates.

Those reflect the cost of major surface water and wastewater treatment plant investments

in a smaller rate base. They have a big debt payment that is covered by their rates.

So this slide shows some of the economic impacts since the last rate update was implemented in July

2021. The table provides a summary of key economic indicators influencing the cost of operating and

maintaining each utility to show how things have changed since our last rate adjustment was

implemented. These are things that, you know, you get off the web. You can get the consumer price

increase, CalPERS, rate adjustments, those types of things. Percentages, while giving good

information, don't always give a full picture. So looking at some of the actual numbers, I wanted

to pull a couple things just to put that into perspective. So for a capital project, for example,

a lot of these different pieces will come together in like a capital project cost,

for example. So while the consumer or the construction cost index is about 14 percent

over the last few years, there's also labor costs and other things included in those project costs

that are higher. So I took the State Streets Water and Sewer Rehabilitation Project, which

completed, it was done in around 2020 to 2022, around the time frame that we're looking at of

our last rate update. Total cost of that project was about $7.2 million. And using, looking at these,

applying these indicators or increases to that those same projects would cost 8.7 million

now this year so that's about a million and a half increase maintenance worker an average

maintenance worker total compensation in 2021 was about 94 000 a year this year it is 129 000 so

So that's a difference of about $35,000 or 37% in this case.

And if you multiply that by 18 maintenance workers, that's over $600,000 a year.

And then utilities and chemicals costs, two of the highest costs for water and sewer operations.

In 2021, the total cost for utilities and chemicals was $1.8 million.

Last year, it was 2.5.

It's an almost $700,000 a year increase, about 38% increase.

So as you can see, the actual costs that we're experiencing in our utilities are quite a bit higher than some of the post-it sort of economic indicators or inflation numbers.

But by looking at just these numbers that are provided is even completely ignoring infrastructure investment required to maintain a reliable utility service to rate payers.

A 20% increase in rates is needed immediately just to simply keep pace with the rising costs of operating our water and sewer utilities.

So with that we'll get further into these costs and talking about what the proposed

rate scenarios are a little bit later, but I'd like to go ahead and hand it over to our

Public Works Director to talk about our utility systems.

Hello, City Council. I'm Rebecca Scott, the Director of Public Works Operations and Maintenance for the City.

And I am going to share an overview of our system with you just to provide a little bit more context about just the magnitude of what our department takes care of and how we serve the community.

Sorry, Rebecca.

Sure.

We were going to go through questions between each speaker.

I forgot about that part.

Okay.

Do you mind if I just give a chance for us to review that?

Sure.

Thank you.

I'm so sorry.

I should have absorbed in my candy.

So, council members, do you have any questions about this presentation that our finance director

just presented to us?

So far you're good?

I think I'm going to take it all.

Keeping track.

We're all good.

All right, thank you so much.

All right, sorry, come back up.

I think I have a lot of questions for you, though.

That's what prompted me.

I'm like, oh, this is the one.

That's okay.

So the George Christoph Water Treatment Plant provides all of the drinking water, irrigation,

and fire suppression water for the city.

And so we are proud to provide such an essential service for our community.

And we produce about 11 million gallons a day of drinking water for our community.

This interesting box that you see next to me, you might be wondering what that is.

And so this actually represents one unit of water, which equals 748 gallons.

And so on the bill for our customers, we charge a usage charge for each unit of water that is used.

And so we have a service charge, which covers the cost of getting that first drop of water to your tap.

So it's the maintenance of our entire system.

And then for every one of these boxes that a customer uses, we currently charge $2.43.

So looking at the box of water, we do have a gallon in there as well for scale and then a little 12-ounce bottle.

so this guy right here would probably cost you i don't know eight dollars at a you know professional

sports game um this guy right here would probably cost you four dollars at the grocery store and

we sell the entire container was worth of water for two dollars and 43 cents right now

so just for some scale it's sometimes it's hard for people to understand what is a unit of water

what does that actually mean you might see it on your bill but you might not really

realize like this is the actual amount. So it's a fun little visual just to kind of help explain

what a unit of water is. So in our system we also have eight reservoirs. We have two clear wells and

one booster station and that moves our water from the north side of town to the south side of the

town. And we also have 212 miles of water mains and for the scale of that if you laid them out on

the freeway it would get you from here to Fresno. So that's the amount of just water mains that is

literally under our feet serving water to the community. We also have 97 miles of

service lines and those are the lines that go from the water main to each

person's house and so we have about half of the amount of water main distance is

also service lines. And then you can see the numbers there for meters hydrants

and valves we just have a lot of water infrastructure that we have in the city

to again provide that water to the community and most people they don't necessarily think about

water and sewer lines because you don't see them they're underground and as long as your toilet

flushes and there's water that comes out when you turn on the tap sometimes it might be taken for

granted but as i mentioned there is a whole network of pipelines underneath our feet that

requires maintenance and replacement and at any time it could fail and then it will actually become

seen pretty quickly. So a large water main break, you've probably seen on the

news other large agencies where they've had really massive sinkholes as a result

of a water main break. It can be damaging to property and people and we

definitely don't want that to happen. And so our infrastructure definitely is

aging and it's at the end or past its useful life and regulatory compliance is

also evolving and getting stricter.

And then water meters, they also require replacement.

So the council and community may not know that when water meters start failing, they

actually start under-reporting the amount of water that's going through the meter.

And so it actually favors the customer, but it does the opposite effect for the city.

And so as they fail, they'll just get slower and slower and register less and less water.

And so that can actually cause quite a few problems for the city.

One of them being that we can't accurately estimate the amount of water that people are using.

And so for many of our regulatory reports, we need to estimate the water that the city is going to use.

We also have water contracts that allow us to purchase water.

And so we need to be able to accurately be able to know what our customers are using.

And so part of that is having accurate water meters in the ground that are registering appropriately.

And so water meters traditionally last maybe 20 years, maybe a little bit less, and so we are pretty much in a constant state of replacing our older water meters and then getting on that cycle of continuing to move through the system and replace them.

When the city incorporated in 1987, about 35% of the city was inherited from Yolo County, which as the council knows, that included much older infrastructure.

And we do have some records dating back to the 40s.

which means we have some water infrastructure that's now 80 plus years old.

The life of a water main is somewhere around 70 years,

and so we definitely have some pipes in the ground that are older than that.

We also have a water supply contract that allows us to divert and purchase water from the Sacramento River,

but that can be affected in dry years, and at the moment we are actually curtailed on one of our water contracts

in preparation for a potentially dry year coming up.

We do have another water supply that we're able to use, but we do want to look at alternative water supplies just to make sure we're improving water reliability for our residents.

On the sewer side, we have 214 miles of sewer pipelines.

We have nine pump stations and we have five lift stations.

Our sewer lines are mainly a gravity system, but at a certain point it stops because it can't go any lower.

So that's when we use a lift station to pump it up to a higher level so that it can continue on its way to a pump station, which will then pump it under pressure to the county's interceptor pipe.

And then our sewage is treated by the Sacramento Area Sewer District at their wastewater treatment plant in Elk Grove.

And as Roberta mentioned, Sac Area Sewer does charge separate rates that are passed on to the residents.

So just like our water lines, we do have aging infrastructure on the sewer side.

and again as mentioned earlier the repair and replacement costs have risen dramatically over

the last five to ten years. We are liable for our systems and any problems that are caused by breaks

or sinkholes and because of the age of our system we are starting to see a lot more sewer backups

in which the system gets plugged the pipes fail and it causes a sinkhole because it starts to take

on dirt and then when the joints wear down it actually will cause a lot of the the groundwater

to infiltrate into that area and then it'll be sort of an

underground sinkhole that might not be visible for a little while.

And then that actually will cause us to have to pay more for pumping

because now we're not only pumping sewage out of that area, we're also

pumping the groundwater out of that area. So we're getting to a point where

we're at system overload and our pumps cannot keep up with what's coming in.

All right, that's the slide I just talked about.

So we do have some shovel-ready projects that we just need funding for the actual construction

component of them.

But one of them that is the most important is the high-service manifold vault and effluent

water meter project.

And so basically we need to upgrade the underground pipes that send our treated water from the

treatment plant to the distribution system.

Since the high service manifold is underground and it's one of our most critical assets,

we need to build a vault so our staff can safely access it and maintain it.

The effluent water meter measures how much treated water is being sent out into the system

and that's actually a state requirement that we are measuring the amount of treated water

coming out.

And so just for that project alone, it's $7.2 million.

Another nearly shovel-ready project is the South Sewer Lift Station, and that's near the State Streets neighborhood on Park and Stone.

The design is mostly complete, but we don't have the money to complete the construction.

And for that area, the pump station is currently too small to handle the normal flows.

And that's another location that our maintenance crews are continuously monitoring just to

make sure it's working as it should and that it doesn't back up.

And so if one of those pumps goes down, it could cause a major sewer backup.

And it also requires safety and performance updates, which will help ensure our crew's

safety while they're maintaining that system.

And so for that project, $6 million is needed.

As mentioned earlier, the city just recently adopted a comprehensive water and sewer master plan.

And so in that, those are typically updated every five years.

And for the water CIP, the recommendation is $89.5 million in total, which is approximately $18 million spent per year.

The recommended five-year sewer CIP is $54.1 million, which is approximately $11 million per year.

And important to note, keep those numbers in mind as Rick goes through his presentation, because the middle ask scenario that we are looking at has about 55 to 60 percent of that dollar amount that's recommended actually in the works for that scenario.

So we still, even in like the middle of the road scenario, we're really only able to do

around half or a little over half of the recommended projects from those master plans.

And so those master plans really are a way for the city to know which projects are the

most critical, which ones need to be done right away, which ones we can probably wait

a little bit longer on.

But we're at a point now where we definitely have some critical projects coming up.

So for upcoming infrastructure projects, we have the Washington District Infrastructure

Rehab.

That's funded partially with grant money, fortunately, and we're going to be updating

the water and sewer lines.

And then we do have some, you see the numbers in parentheses there is what funding is needed,

and if it's a number not in parentheses, we already have funding for those.

The CCTV inspection and cleaning of the sewer system, we don't have the staff to actually get that done as often as we should be.

And so we need to be looking at these pipes every five years at least.

And so that is the estimate for getting that project underway.

And earlier I talked about the infiltration of groundwater in the sewer system.

so to look at that in different neighborhoods is approximately 9.1 million because we would

be looking at a variety of different neighborhoods we believe the worst ones right now are bright and

south but all of the sewer pump stations need updates because they're all on the small side

and they're all old so when they were originally put in the city did not have as many homes or

neighborhoods and developments, which is very common.

But as the population grew, then the needs grew, you know, the amount of sewage proportionately

grew, and so we're at a point now where those systems are too small.

The total cost of all the updates, $42.1 million, is a significant portion of the sewer master

plan recommendations.

And then the water pump station, PSIP, is also one of our projects as well.

And we estimate approximately 44.5 million of water main replacements needed in the next

five years, and again we have over 200 miles of those underneath, and that will improve

the reliability and capacity of our system.

Many of our water tanks are also older and they provide the supply and also the correct

pressure for our system, and so we need them in good working order to operate the water

system correctly.

Part of the City's responsibility as a water and sewer service purveyor includes making

sure the treatment plant works and making sure our water and sewer systems are in good

repair.

We don't want backups, we don't want sinkholes, and we certainly don't want to be on the national

news.

We need to fund these projects now because if we continue deferring them and wait for

an emergency, and it will come, it will cost typically at least twice as much for an emergency

project because we have to rent equipment, pay overtime costs, and it also takes time away from

the preventative maintenance needs. So a higher investment is needed now, but our goal would be

to get to a place where we're making that investment and then we can get on a good

preventative maintenance and replacement schedule so that we can keep the rate increases more stable

going forward. So at this time I'll answer any questions before I turn it over to Rick with HF&H.

Thank you. Yes, I do have questions. Looking at these projected, all these projects, the

projected costs, the timeline to get started, well, first of all, have you prioritized which

one is the most catastrophic one that we need to prioritize in getting taken care of?

Yes, we have. So, I don't know if Jay wants to jump in here.

Was that Jay's part? Okay, we can wait for Jay to...

Well, he can kind of tag team on the questions with me, but I know Bright and South are

kind of that's one of our priority projects right now.

But if you're referring to this list.

Is that another slide that you can go back to?

Forward?

Yeah, that will be covered in a little while

when we go through each scenario.

Oh, okay, good, I can wait.

And we prioritize kind of the list of projects

in water and sewer.

Okay.

And what was the most critical ones from staff.

All right, thank you.

Thank you, Jayce.

I don't need to jump ahead.

If you're gonna just say, if it's gonna be said already.

You can go ahead and ask.

Yeah, go ahead.

I think it's along the same lines, but I actually don't want you to jump ahead, because

I'm going to assume you showed me this because it was important.

The slide that's up.

So just to make sure I'm tracking, because when the mayor said or asked the question

of, hey, what's the most important project or what's the most priority project, I just,

I just, again, I want to track.

So the projects on this one aren't the most priority projects?

These are upcoming projects that these are absolutely priority projects, yes.

And they are everything in parentheses there we do need funding for.

But we have further organized them into, like, an order, if you will, of what needs to be done first.

Unfortunately, a lot of them we'd probably put as number one just because they've been deferred for so long.

okay um so two more questions when we do get to jay's part are these projects going to be on the

long list and so we'll be able to see where they they fall yes i see roberta nodding yes okay

perfect um now i'm gonna go back to just uh maybe something simpler lots and lots of numbers thrown

out i appreciate this report is super dense um if i was watching uh i i would i wouldn't quite be

able to follow quite frankly they're big numbers I heard sinkhole potentially

what would be helpful at least for me just like your everyday person who

would need to understand this is give me an example what happens if we don't

replace the you know do the water meter replacement or Westmore Oaks who are

water rehab so but specifically sure with the water meter replacement again

we have state regulations that require us to track what the water used and the recent state

conservation regulations have gotten more strict in that regard and so they will actually require

much more specific numbers for our population and so if we don't have accurately reading meters in

the ground we do not have accurate data to provide the state and it's possible that we would our city

would actually be using more water than we would be calculating because of the meters running slower.

So that's what you said in regards to it favoring the customer.

Got it.

Okay.

The sewer system I&I reduction, 9.1 million.

Or actually, let's do the 42.1 million because it sounds like there are projects that are even higher in priority than these.

What happens if we don't do the sewer pump station rehabilitation project?

Jay, do you want to tackle that one?

Jay Goulden So on this slide in particular, this is a

summary of the entire master plan.

So that's the summary of all the pump stations that are there.

So if we did not move forward with one of our sewer pump stations, what would happen?

And what would happen if we went into catastrophic failure?

Jay Goulden I don't know.

Jay Goulden So if it just went into failure, we would have

to put it in bypass and we would be coming back here for a project that's roughly 7 million.

would increase that by at least three to four million and we'd be pushing that out for the

years. Then we'd pull staff off of projects that they're working on right now, pull Rebecca's whole

team out, and then the timing when we do these projects is the dead of night when the flows are

lowest. So then that would further kind of create the financial hole for the city. Can I go a step

further? I appreciate you taking the city perspective. I'm looking more from the customer

perspective. What happens to me as a customer? Like why should I care? So that would, if

If a pump station failed, we would go into backups potentially.

And at that point, if there's anything, it fills up as the station goes.

Crews come out.

They start pumping stuff out.

Neighborhoods, so Bright, that pump station is in a neighborhood.

It's on Curtis, so all those neighbors would be affected at night.

They'd be hearing trucks come in and out just for us to keep the sewage from backing up into homes.

Worst case scenario, that starts happening.

Okay, so just in simple terms, sewage starts to back up into our individual homes if this doesn't happen.

Yes, at the worst case.

Like just in very simple terms.

Yeah, so it goes into barrels first.

It starts working its way up in the system.

That's when triggers start going off.

Rebecca's team gets notifications.

We start trying to lower that level.

You send out pumper trucks, send the factory trucks out.

You're trying to lower it as much as possible, bypassing it.

and then worst case scenario is that you would be in that catastrophic situation

and that's what we're trying to avoid okay that makes sense last question on

this at least so you just told us that these projects although our priority

we're about to see projects that are even higher priority than these I will

tell you sewage backing up feels like a feels like a priority 42.1 million

especially if this is lower on the list is there a cost escalator that is

already accounted for the fact that we're gonna have to do this later on so

that encompasses all our all our pump stations and then what staff did working

with Rebecca's team just took the most critical pump stations that we know that

have them the most need and we prioritize those so when the list when

you get to when I get to the list it's gonna be five projects we're gonna go

through those and say this is why this is so important to do because we have to

move this forward in the next five years okay the one thing that I would ask

thank you I see Roberta nodding like as you're going through it and maybe you're

gonna do it already simple right would would be helpful absolutely how me as a

customer or how the residents that are looking at this and saying like well is

this like a must to or need to because we're all pressed as far as the costs

that are are being put on all of us as individuals again how is this dire and

and how will they be impacted in addition

to the finances of the city?

Absolutely.

We'll get into that.

And then we'll also get into why prolonging it

would cost more.

So we'll get into some of that nitty gritty details.

I appreciate you.

That would be helpful, how prolonging it would cost more

for me.

Because looking at Bright Park, for example,

if we went through some scenarios,

waiting would probably double the cost.

I'm just saying, if we waited maybe 10 more years,

and if we didn't do the, well, if we didn't take action

to get it fully taken care of.

So comparable to that, I don't know if you have the slides

and information to share, that would be very helpful.

Yes, that'll be you later on in the presentation.

Thank you so much.

Yes, Council Member Rodosco.

Thank you.

I also, I appreciate the angle toward avoiding

potential tragedy and future catastrophe

when it comes to not upgrading the lines in our city.

I mean, we are an aging city.

We have been continuously trying to reinvest in and replacing the sewer and water mains

and the state streets in the oldest parts of West Sacramento also.

But more importantly, I'd love for you to, in your future comments, I understand that.

I don't know what's coming up, but I imagine you have something up your sleeve,

really commenting on the importance of our public health as we upgrade these systems.

Because for me, as many of us, you bring out these bottled waters.

I don't know if they're any more healthy, containing plastic, encased in plastic and whatnot.

But how can we as a city ensure that our most impoverished parts of our communities and the people who live in District 2,

who have the lowest health outcomes in the region, we're trying to improve.

How can we ensure that their drinking water is as pure and clean coming out of the tap?

And so they don't have to rely upon, you know

Bottled water or certain things in order to clean their waters

We've had cities that have been hit tremendously by polluted water and I know

That this has come before our city in the past where people have been concerned about whether or not they're drinking water is safe

So to the extent that we are footing a bill to ensure that our public

Burma in our community remains healthy. I'd love for you to touch upon that

If you can

Mayor, I have just a few questions.

Yes, Councilmember Alcala.

Okay, if we go with rate increase, what percentage to the average household, I mean, what kind

of increase would that be?

Yeah, so that'll be the very next part of the presentation, and I'll let Roberta and

Rick take that on.

Also, have we recently had more sewage backups than in the last few years?

Is that why we're doing this?

frequent yes for sure okay and you're saying that's primarily like in the

project area bright Broderick area it's citywide but that's one of the areas

with one of the older systems and one of the most critical based on need and you

mentioned the south do you mean Southport when you said right south you

said maybe it's maybe I miss heard

South Street.

South Street?

Yeah, it's kind of by the port, so it's not all the way in South.

Okay.

And I just want to make a comment.

I think I know who's Latina.

I often wondered why Latinos brought so many bottles of water and all.

And I think it's many of the families that I've spoken with,

it's because they didn't have great drinking water in Mexico.

So that's one of the reasons that a lot of people, so

glad you brought that point up because I think a lot of people if we do serve an

education project that this is going to you know be something in purifying the

water you know getting these new pipes and stuff I think that's going to be a

real important component in people accepting maybe the higher rate that we

may have to impose I think it's important for people to hear that so I'll

I'll clarify that water main replacements, the water mains that we have right now are not causing any water quality issues.

What we're trying to minimize is a break, which would cause a massive sinkhole, which would cause destruction to property.

Potentially, you know, a car, like if it was on an arterial road, sometimes you've got a sinkhole opening pretty quickly.

There may be a car that drives into it.

So injury to people as well.

But the water quality itself, our water has always met or exceeded our federal drinking water standards.

And so the water that is coming out of the tap right now is still meeting or exceeding those standards.

And so we do have very high quality water already, fortunately, for our residents.

We're one of the places where we do have really high quality water here.

And so we do love to encourage people to drink the water from your tap.

YOU KNOW, DON'T GO SPEND $4 ON THIS.

JUST TURN ON YOUR TAP AND GET THE WATER CLEAN FROM THERE.

OKAY, THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

AND AS PART OF THE FUTURE PRESENTATION, I KNOW WHEN WE

DID SOME, I THINK IN THE STATE STREETS, WE CHANGED SOME OF

THE SEWAGE LINES OUT THERE, I BELIEVE.

BUT ONE OF MY CONCERNS WAS THE HOMES WERE SO OLD AS WELL

THAT WE COULD HAVE DONE A GREAT JOB ON THE BACK END, YOU

KNOW, WHERE IT COMES OUT ON THE STREET.

but among the homes, theirs was still very old.

And if there's any insight on that structure

and what we can do to educate the residents,

that they will have to upgrade theirs as well.

And if there's a way to take a look at the rates

to provide support for those homeowners who can't afford

to upgrade theirs, that we can consider that

as part of the conversation.

All right.

Anything else?

No?

Anybody?

Okay.

Our next presenter. All right, so now I will turn it over to Rick Simonson with HF&H

To go over the proposed rates

Good evening mayor mayor pro tem council members again, I'm Rick Simonson with HF&H consultants

We're a consulting firm that started in 1989

We do water sewer and solid waste rates throughout the state of California

California for over 35 years now. So I'd like to start the presentation. We'll have

Jay come up and give a little more details as we go through each of the

scenarios. As Roberta mentioned earlier, we've got four different funding

scenarios for each of the two utilities. So we'd like to dive a little bit deeper.

So yes, we're going to be throwing a lot more information at you, a lot of numbers.

so please at any time stop and ask your questions as we move along

if i can make this work there we go so we did undertake a cost

of service study for both water and sewer as mentioned

earlier the city's utilities are operated as an enterprise fund which is

Key to note that the revenues that are generated from the rates that

We will be reviewing tonight can solely only be used for

Either the water or the sewer service they cannot be used in any other capacity to fund programs throughout the city and

The rates must be based on the cost of service to provide

Those services to each customer class. So as I walk through the presentation, I'll show

five years worth of revenue increases and just note the term revenue especially

for this next effective increase April 1 that's the overall revenue that will be

generated by the rate increases however in that realignment year when we're

looking at the cost of service for each customer class the actual impact to the

customer classes will differ from that average revenue increase so some rates

would go higher and some rates would go lower in that initial first year and

then from that point forward the percentage increases you see will be

applied uniformly to each of the customer classes as we will have

realigned to the cost of service in that first year

what are the steps of a cost of service study so working with staff we identify

all the costs that do need to be covered by the rates and charges both the

operating ongoing day-to-day operations as well as the extensive capital

improvement program that we'll be discussing in a bit more detail we have

to track these costs and how they change over the next five-year period

and we have to design rates to ensure as I mentioned each customer is paying just

their fair share nothing more nothing less and we will conclude with the

presentation of the impacts to your customers specifically your average

residential customers of each of the scenarios

first we'll dive into sewer and then we'll open it up for questions before we

move on to water so your current monthly sewer charges do get charged to single

family and multifamily residents different than they do for commercial

businesses and that's due to the fact that residential customers tend to use

water much the same from household the household the water that's used then

become sewage that needs to be treated with commercial customers there's a lot

more volatility of how much water is used and then discharge into the

wastewater system so we've set up your current rate structure to have both a

fixed charge and a variable usage charge for your commercial customers based on

their actual water use and we do know that water that comes flows into the

commercial business not all of it makes its way into the sewer some is used in

production some is used on irrigation so as a proxy for the actual water use for

charging commercial customers it's based on winter water use when there's a least

amount of irrigation that's occurring when it's a lot more precipitation and

as noted earlier we'll be talking in the units of water that's being used so each

unit is 748 gallons these are the current rates shown for each customer

class for single-family the current charge for sewer services is a fixed

$10.88 per month multifamily customers as we look at water demand and the usage

of the sewer system they tend to use less water on average so you see a lower

charge for your multifamily dwelling units at $8.16 per dwelling unit per

month commercial currently has a fixed charge of $5.40 but are also in addition

charge that variable rate based on their actual needs

no yes ask one quick question there there are businesses such as like the

teriyaki sauce company yeah I can see Tracy none yet that use a lot of water

how would their rate be affected we'll get into the specific rate impacts we

have them as a specific um example of their yeah if anybody can answer that question i'm just very

curious if no you don't nobody knows okay i'll find out somebody will share that with me later

yeah that can be calculated uh under any of the scenarios that we're presenting tonight

so just to reiterate how we got here and why you will be seeing some significant percentage

increases over the next five years rates have not increased since 2021 and as roberta mentioned

inflationary cost increases and the need for major capital improvements are affecting

the rates that we'll be proposing tonight so those current rates do not cover even your current

needs and as we project out for the next five years that becomes an even greater shortfall

so additional funding is needed for those major rehabilitation projects that

we'll get into more detail

when we start the cost of service process to understand the costs over the

next five-year period we've summarized here to understand the revenue

requirements so that's depicted in the stacked bar chart there your categories

of costs for your regular operations and maintenance your day-to-day staffing and

maintenance of the system are shown there in the green you do have some current

debt that had been issued and you're still paying down the debt service small

amount here in the sewer that's depicted in the dark blue and in the

light blue there you'll see the capital projects and you'll see that spike of

necessary capital improvement projects under what we're calling a full ask

scenario so kind of the high watermark of those critical projects that can be

done over the next five years. We've also included here the total current

revenue in that orange solid line there to give you an idea of even in this

current fiscal year 25-26 we are covering the O&M costs and the debt

service costs and a portion of the capital that's necessary the remainder

of that has to be made up from reserves but as you see that will grow over time

based on the needs of the capital program.

And in 27-28, that's a $15 million shortfall

that we're facing.

So we know some sort of revenue increase will be necessary.

That was the correct direction.

So when we look at the expenses and where your current revenue is,

again, looking back at that chart, your current revenues are about $5 million

per year based on current rates.

So how do we bridge that shortfall from that solid orange line to that gap of

the additional expenses over the next five-year period? We can just increase

rates for the full amount, but as I mentioned you'll be about $15 million

short in a couple years and on five million worth of current revenues

that's quite a significant increase to rates immediately. So we know we can

utilize reserves as I mentioned it is an enterprise fund so when revenues have

exceeded the actual expenses during that year those excess funds are kept in

reserve for future capital projects we can also issue debt to help smooth out

the increase to ratepayers by issuing debt over a long period of time in our

scenarios here we've assumed a 30-year debt issuance and it's it's a good idea

when you are facing these large capital projects to fund some of not all but

some of it through debt issuance because these main replacements they have a

long-term life so it makes sense to pay that over time instead of all at once so

the scenarios you'll see tonight are utilizing a combination of some rate

increases also utilizing reserves that you currently have on hand as well as

issuing some debt and I'll walk through those.

So this is a summary and I apologize we actually have four funding scenarios

listed here we had brought three to the EU Commission and they have added a

fourth one. So let me just walk through quickly of what we're trying to

illustrate here. It's just to summarize under each of the different scenarios

how much of those critical capital improvements will be able to be funded

through each of the scenarios so for scenario three what we're calling a full

ask after staff received the master plans and in this case was recommended

11 million per year over the 10-year period staff was able to look at those

projects and understand their capabilities of staffing getting those

projects done over the next five years what could be done it's about 8.8

million per year of those projects we know that is a pretty high watermark and

the impact to rates would be significant so we have developed some scenarios one

we're calling a mid scenario so it does reduce some of those projects and Jay

will get into what those projects are either delayed deferred from the next

five-year period or reduced costs we also did a low what is that bare minimum

not recommended but in the spirit of providing options a low option that will

further reduce those capital projects down to about 5.5 million per year which

is just about 50% of what has been recommended in the master plan when we

brought this to the EU Commission we had with staff recommended scenario two

which is the mid they noticed some projects that were being deferred in

that scenario and asked if we could develop another scenario funding some of

those more critical projects that they found would be necessary so we've

developed what we're calling scenario number four which which ups that capital

spending not quite to the full ask but more than the middle option that you see

here

now you'll see the slide another seven times after this it's just really to

give you context of the cost of service process and how we go about determining

what those revenue increases that you'll see across the bottom there how we

derive what those percentages should be so I'll just orient you this one time on

what we're looking at here and it will repeat itself so as we're looking at the

necessary revenue increases we first start with where is your current fund

balance and that's depicted in that solid green line on the far left side

you'll see that's about eight million dollars at the end of last fiscal year

June 30 2025 she had about eight million in reserves in your sewer

enterprise the solid red line let me start at the bottom there with the solid

red line that's a minimum level of reserves for operations to 50% of your

annual O&M expenses that is in order to fund your O&M operations throughout the

year as revenues come in and are billed monthly you have daily expenses that

need to be covered so that's there during those time periods when you're

waiting on the next build revenues to be received so as we're developing these

percentages we never want to see you go below that minimum red line but in

addition to just covering those O&M it's prudent a policy to have also a

balance a target for your capital expenditures besides your O&M

expenditures so again another and I misspoke 25% is a minimum target 50% is

the total target to also include the capital so what we try and do when we're

looking at these rate increases is never go below that red line and by the end of

the fifth year period be at or slightly above that blue line if we did nothing

that's depicted there in the solid in the dotted green line and that's just to

show at your current revenues if you didn't change those over the next five

years and conducted the projects that you deem necessary and in this scenario the

full ask you would quickly deplete your reserves before the end of fiscal year

2728 so what this is depicting is with the revenue increases you see across the

bottom we will maintain a positive fund balance hit that target by 2930 so this

is indicating the mixture of the revenue increases so the rate increases to your

customers as well as utilizing that 8 million in reserves over time so

utilizing those reserves a little bit each year until you hit that target

instead of just raising rates I have a question for you yes you move um so the

revenue increase the 36 the 28 the 16 is that depicted in one of these lines I

don't think I'm fully following you so the revenue increases that you see there

we compared to the expected expenditures that we showed on the stack bar chart and

compared that to the revenues of the 5 million currently with these percentage

increases each year and that Delta if there is a Delta and in this case it

will fall short of meeting that full need because you're utilizing reserves so

for example from 25 to 26 with our recommended increases of 36 and then 28

percent you will utilize about 2 million in reserves if not for those reserves

those rate increases would have been higher so just help me understand just

before we move on because I think the side is important on the Delta that

you're talking about here is represented on the line chart is between what the

Delta is between the green and the blue the Delta is between the green and the

red so and hopefully I can answer this in a and you can ask a follow-up question

okay so what we're depicting with the the green line is your current fund

balance okay so each year when you look at your actual projected what we're

looking at here are projected expenses okay compare it to the revenue that would

be generated with the rate increases okay so that's how the 36 to 28 and 16

come into play correct okay we we use those percentages to track that that

green line so

If we did not do a 28% increase there, you'd see, for example, with the dotted green line, you'd be around $3 million left in your reserve if you did not make that percent increase.

If you didn't do the 28% increase?

That's correct.

Okay. Thank you.

Is that sufficient for now?

Now that part is clear. They were just numbers before.

Yes.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you for the question.

And again, those are revenue increases we'll get into the bill impacts to give you an idea

and compare and contrast amongst the scenarios because this is a presentation full of a lot

of figures, so we want to make sure you have an opportunity to truly grasp what it is we're

recommending.

And with that, I'll bring up Jay just to go over those projects that are included in this

scenario, which is the full ask.

All right.

Thank you, Rick.

So in the next part, as we go through each scenario and we go through it, we wanted to

break it down as a team of what we're getting out of it and why these projects are so important.

So the full ask that we have here, keep in mind the master plan was asking for 89.5 and

54, right?

And this full ask right here is at 44.

came together took that master plan and with Rebecca's team and this capital

projects team with all the engineers we developed what is the most critical

projects that we need to get done in the next five years what can we keep what

do we have to keep together so all these projects as you see on here are one as

a whole as I work through these different scenarios you'll see those

break up and cost will increase and we'll walk through that each and it'll

colored in yellow. Right here, so South lift station rehabilitation project, that

is a really critical infrastructure need. Right now that lift station at

Parkinstone is operating constantly running off and on off and on, so it's

wearing out the pumps at a very high rate. Rebecca's staff is

there daily almost to do repairs. We just had another repair today, so it's

critical that we get that done. Westmore Oaks, this is all sewer. We're

gonna do the same exercise for water. Westmore Oaks sewer project, these are

concrete lined pipes. They're from the inception when we got from Yolo County.

As concrete, actually gases and sewer corrode that very rapidly and that is

end of life. So we need to make an improvement on there. The one million

dollars you see there, we usually design out a project first and then we

construct it and the logical steps that we use we do water sewer and we build

our way up and then we would do the roads so this takes a snowball effect if

we cannot move forward with these utility rates we will not be able to do

the roads or we will do the roads and then rip up to do the utility so we try

to follow by doing utility projects first just like we did in state streets

and then do the road project and then we're out so that's kind of the logical

Logic that our staff used in developing these projects and we really kept it to this digestible list of six here of saying

These are critical what we have to get done

So this this is the full ask and as we walk through you'll see how that changes and I can walk through

You just mentioned repair costs

Staff being out there every day repairing

As we're looking at these numbers and I don't know I you know if that repair work

is just built into the OMM if those are quantifiable numbers that we need to be

looking at as we're kind of gauging where we need to be putting our priority or

looking at the different level of rates because I think I mean obviously you're

prioritizing these because of the repair that needs to get done if we push this

out too far what's the end-to-end consequences of the repair costs if

we're still out there every day trying to work on the south station yeah well

at that point it gets beyond a repair so that's why these are on the list is these are approaching

like end of life like they're to the point where they're not fixable anymore um so we're having

staff out there every day to to try to remedy them or put them back together and that that is

a tremendous amount of overtime um from from rebecca's team but that cost of of doing that

constantly um is peeling away from maintenance activities that we can be doing at other stations

so it's creating that snowball

thank you jay one quick question on taking so these are so this is like the timeline that i

that i had asked for earlier correct so these five projects these six projects on here is the five

year timeline there are so the water sewer master plan those projects didn't disappear they are just

pushed out further right so we're just pushing those into future years these are the most critical

ones that we need to do now so we identify these and in each scenario we're still touching these at

some point but the way we do that is either phasing costing more money or spreading it out over the

years an important note that i did miss i'm sorry is you'll notice that a lot of money's in the

first years right it's all front loaded and that's because we're so behind and if we wait things

start costing more our designs so south is fully designed out bright we're going

to be entering our design Westmore Oaks that's fully designed out we're just

waiting for funds to do to construct these projects and the longer we wait

the longer we shelf life them so if this was approved in a timely manner how soon

can we get started in the 2025 year is that so you would send out an RFP to get

this project going or we would have to approve what what does that look like

so the rates yeah I'll let Roberta step in for the timing of when everything is

okay so the proposed timing that we're looking at now would have rates effective

April 1st we bill in arrears so April usage would be billed in May we would

receive revenues our first revenue on that would be June in order to get any

of these projects really started in the next fiscal year which starts in July

we'd be issuing debt in the fall so rates would go effective our first

revenues would be coming in around June. In the summer, late summer, early fall, we

would be issuing debt so that we have cash on hand to carry out and implement

these projects. If the process is delayed or the implementation is delayed, the

implementation of the projects gets delayed the same way. But the current

plan is that we will have rates effective in April, we will in the summer, fall

issue debt, and then we can start projects in fiscal year 26, 27. And these

anticipated costs are also based on the cost of these projects going up and the

cost of the material going up is this all factored in these account for cost

increases year over year so when we look at this and we look at the timing of

when these projects will be done there are inflation factors built in for

future years in these costs reliable inflation factors yes yeah because I

don't want to be able to approve I mean as reliable as you can we can't really

predict the future but yes as much as we can and so the reason why we haven't

done any of these projects is because we didn't have the revenue do this correct

we don't have we don't have the money the cash on hand to do it there are a

couple of things that influence that so Rick mentioned for example in the sewer

fund we started with eight million of reserves so you might be saying well why

aren't we doing an eight million dollar sewer station project there are a couple

of reasons one a portion of those reserves are in a required rate

stabilization fund that we have a balance requirement set by council to

maintain. So we maintain that and then we have cash on hand in fund balance and

as we have enough of that cash on hand in fund balance we can do a project. The

other thing we have to watch out for is our debt coverage ratio. So if we do

issue debt and we have debt existing already for our water and sewer funds

there's an annual debt service payment and there is a requirement that each

year you collect enough revenue to cover all your O&M and your debt service plus

15, 20, 25 percent, whatever the debt, the bond covenants call for. Right now we

don't have enough revenue to meet our legal debt coverage. So what we're having

to do is utilize that rate stabilization reserve fund to transfer in as revenues

each year to meet our debt coverage requirement. That will continue to have

to happen and then we won't be able to use those funds for projects until we

until we have rates set sufficiently to do that okay and I appreciate the entire

presentation on revenue dedicated revenue for this I think that can be

difficult for the public to understand that we need a dedicated revenue stream

that is from our rate payers to put into you know the bank or whatever you want

call it into a revenue fund to achieve that I think sometimes what the public

doesn't fully understand and it would be great to have a full budget to explain

our this whole process and to have that transparent process online is for them

to fully understand how these revenue sources are you know disseminated to

cover what projects otherwise I think the public will assume measure O was

passed and why isn't that revenue source being used for example so and it's and

you know appreciate this explanation but it's just sometimes very hard for the

public to understand when we have sales tax several sales tax revenue sources we

know it's dedicated we know it's an advise we also have property taxes EIFD

We have several projects, but it's hard for the public to understand.

Moving forward, it would just be good to have a full budget to explain that.

Council Member Alcala.

I was just going to ask one question.

So it's going to be $137 million over five years.

Is that correct?

What are you referring to?

My apologies.

No, it's $137 million.

137 million, that's what's going to be over five years, right?

No.

Where did you find that?

Yeah, 137 million.

Is there a slide I should have referenced?

I'm sorry.

Maybe I just read that wrong.

This was going to be the cost of everything.

All the work that was going to be done.

It's going to cost 137 million over five.

No, I haven't read that anymore.

Is there like a we're just trying to find a slide that you're looking at

um

are you potentially adding up

each of the the five years of stack bar charts doing the o m capital yeah that's what i

that's what i calculated oh you calculated something all right

20 40 now it's about 80 million so okay okay and I'm happy to revisit that

question if you okay I probably added wrong that song I think okay I'm just

trying to do numbers in my head so the master plans what they call for so they

call for 89 and 49 if you're adding those correct those is that where you

today that's so that's what the master plan is recommending full like what we

should be doing so we use that kind of as a guide we're not asking for that full

full ask in any of these scenarios okay both utilities over 10-year period for

rate-setting purposes you can only set five years at a time so that's why we

focus just on the next five years okay all right and so what is that gonna be

like a 54% increase for customers we will get to that shortly because that is

always the question. I want to mention there are four scenarios so the rate

increases under each of those scenarios will be different and we're asking you

for guidance tonight on which of those scenarios to move forward with. So you'll

ultimately tell us what the rate increases will be but we'll go through

each of the four scenarios and to show you what that that sort of difference

would be under each scenario. And under those four scenarios it's the range that

I thought we were it's the range right? What do you mean?

I think you're referring to what again this is kind of a recap of what we're

doing tonight and I know you're gonna get to this you're not fully setting the

rates tonight you're setting the upper end of what they will be and we're as

Roberta said we're seeking direction on of the options which is the one that you

you would favor or if there's yeah that's I think we're trying to give you

sufficient background and good enough information so that when we get there to

give you that you'll you'll be able to you know understand the information we're

giving you if we jumped right to rates without in the options without you

understanding what goes into it yeah and what the trade-offs are of the different

scenarios you couldn't make very good decisions about that so we we will get

you that information but they're later on in the slides once you have enough

information to understand what we're gonna ask you

So moving on to what we're calling the mid-level, which is our Scenario 2 for sewer.

Again, looking at the fund balance, we're achieving the same target by end of 2930.

And we'll recap these percentages and the bill impacts, so don't try and memorize each

of the revenue increases.

But this is a little bit less capital funding.

And Jay will go through some of those projects that have been deferred.

All told, it's a, and I didn't do this on the last slide, but this is about 127 percent

cumulative increase over the next five years, which on average to your residential customers

is about $4.53 per month increase each year. So just to give you some context, but again,

we'll show you some average bill impacts when we get to the conclusion of all the scenarios.

So I'll let Jay.

Thank you.

So everything in yellow is something that had a change.

So what we did here, south is still really important.

We want to get that done first, so we have that done first.

A lift station is very hard to phase out.

You really can't do it.

You have to put the lift station in bypass.

It's meant to be like a single project to happen at once.

So phasing it causes a lot of increase in money, and you see that with Bright.

project jumped up to 11 million dollars you know okay why well we're just keeping

it going for 1.5 million dollars we're redesigning it and then we're then we're

trying to do the project in 2829 so that pushes that project out in a

neighborhood what we do in the phase scenario is we do less so we would do

less of skip some streets we'd be back there the next year to do the rest of

the streets so you'll see if Westmore Oaks was to be pushed we would be doing

one at a time and trying to age these in the right years because we're trying to

water and sewer together and then come to the streets that's what we're kind of

fighting against in this scenario here the mainline

through repair we're also pushed out or reduced in capacity until future years

and the hardest thing to do when we're doing these scenarios is we have an

eight and a half million dollar project and we only have nine million dollars

coming in that year we can only do a project like that's and if we have to

split that that is our most important staff did not want to be splitting that

project so that's that's why it's loaded that way in future years you see that

and we're able to do a neighborhood and and push on bright that's that's the

hard decisions that we were had to make in order to get these project lists done

in these five years. So as comparison with the scenario number three which was

the full ass that was about 44 million in projects over the next five years and

this is 36 million so that's that reduction.

Looking at scenario one the low level just in order to provide as many

scenarios as possible and reduce the impacts to ratepayers we've developed

this you'll notice still double digit increases each year the cumulative

increase would decrease to about 115 percent over the five-year period so

still a doubling of the rates over the five-year period that amounts to about a

four dollar and twenty cent per month increase to your average to your single

family customers each of the five years.

And we saw with the previous scenario funding 44 million.

36, you're close.

36 million, 44 for the most, 36 for the mid,

and for the low, pushing out some more projects,

deferring those down to 27.5 million.

And in this scenario, the low, it really becomes

very difficult to get anything done in a single year.

With $4 million, you have to phase everything out.

So things are being spread out.

This creates a chaotic environment for both our maintenance staff,

the contractor that's doing the work.

We're trying to split a pump station up so it's multiple years

that we're leaving it in a very risky situation

where it can be either vandalized and not completed.

And pushing out to 2029, those are estimates, I mean,

with inflation, the rate that things are increasing right now, that could be higher as well.

So in this scenario, in the low scenario, what we start doing is really increasing the risk on each one of these projects

from being an $8 million project to saying that that could be a higher range project by the time we get there.

Projects that you do not see on the list, so there's other stuff that's being moved on to future, as I said,

that's it doesn't go away it's just being pushed off into the years coming

years of 2030 and beyond on this here you see that that last project and and

it's often asked what is that that's to map out the system we don't have that

clearly mapped out from north the barge canal the oldest part of the city so

we've been working on a project to map all that in system out so we can have

educated data on where our stuff is that that has to get pushed out and then our

major sewer mainline repairs that just ends after the next few years we have to

we have to fund the neighborhood project and we have to fund our south lift

station project

thank you real quick I'm wrapped around the south lift station we have project

Can you go back a slide because this just drop a million dollars not go back one more

So how is it?

Only seven point five million dollars if we pushed it out two more years did I can't did I catch something?

I would think the cost yeah, that has to be a type on here

Yes, eight and a half

Yeah, somehow that on the low lost.

I just thought you were cutting costs somehow.

I thought it was, it's probably a four minute.

Well, no, I remember, okay.

So this one is still seven and a half.

We're pushing it out.

The beyond, beyond 2030 is where we're gaining some more money on this one.

So the actual true cost on this was almost like around 9.5 that we had calculated out

that we'd need.

Oh, but you're saying within that five years?

Yeah.

But you're actually, you're still going to be working on it and paying even more in the future.

So we'll be pushing projects out.

So that's why it's not, this just shows five years at a time.

So majority of those.

South is a very complicated one.

That one was really, really hard to estimate if we tried to split that up, what it would cause.

A lot of our commercial units are there.

So that pump station constantly runs.

So to get those flows, it would be probably

one of the most expensive to prolong.

Just even what we're looking at now,

I guess my question would be, are there any projects

that are still being, that are still outward?

So like, for instance, this major sewer system repair

at $8.5 million.

Is it complete as of 2930, or it's still

going past these five years that will continue to happen so that project will

continue like a mainline repairs we are constantly like Rebecca mentioned

there's miles and miles of mainline so we're constantly doing mainline what

what stops is or starts to stop and and take a little bit of a break so when we

do a pump station that pump station will last for quite a while right we're not

gonna go and we get back into the maintaining stage and not rebuilding the

entire thing but mainline that's something that we we try to always have

funding in because it's constantly it's a constant moving target we're always

putting line in we're always trying to go back and replace it so right now we

are behind I'm cool you haven't done mainline so long so at a point it will

be to it's just getting annual funding every single year but to be clear on

this next one that we saw that mayor Pro Tim pointed out it yes so we didn't

have any so it stops so we were not doing mainline at that point we're

focusing on getting our pumps to trying to work on a pump station we we we do

not have enough capacity in this low scenario do anything else but like one

project like a real I mean I appreciate like what did you say in trying to give

us all scenarios but is that even like a real thing you can do I would so from

our staff perspective this is extremely risky like this scenario is very risky

to try to go in and do this.

Could it be done?

This is probably, as I explained,

doing those, there's consequences in each one.

So a pump station is the highest risk, right?

Like if we lose one, houses, everything.

Main line, that's something that we're constantly repairing on.

So in this scenario, the low would be the most likely

that we'd be coming back and asking for something, right?

Well, because you basically just stop maintaining it.

Yeah, so you're stopping mainline repairs.

You're not doing any more mainline repair,

and then that funding is being allocated

to just the absolute dire need.

And it's like that's just kind of that.

So yeah, the low is very, very tough

for us to even make the numbers work.

you

brings us to our fourth scenario for sewer which is the recommendation by the

EU Commission again just to let you know what the cumulative increases we are

getting to the same target at 2930 as an apples-to-apples comparison that

INCREASES A CUMULATIVE PERCENT INCREASE OVER THE FIVE YEARS TO

ABOUT 146 PERCENT FOR ABOUT $5.50 PER MONTH.

ON AVERAGE FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS INCREASES EACH YEAR AROUND

$5.50 EACH YEAR.

AGAIN, THAT'S AN AVERAGE.

LET'S GET INTO THE DETAILS OF HOW THIS CHANGED FROM THIS IS

BASED ON THE MID WITH THE RECOMMENDATION OF ADDING A

COUPLE PROJECTS BACK FROM THE EU.

All right, so when we presented this to the Commission, we got some feedback, and most

of that was to move these pump stations up.

Since it's so important, the bright and the mainline sewer repairs, since those are very

important, we need to be funding those early on.

That's what the recommendation that we got.

And we needed the money early on as far as 26, 27, 27, 28.

really where we focused on front loading all of this this rate and based on this

fourth scenario we are we are able to get south done we're able to do a

neighborhood are able to do two projects the neighborhood and we're able to

complete bright in this same scenario we're able to do a lot of mainline and

then the mainline also feeds into several other projects breaking that

down but in this in this scenario we are getting a lot of what we need in the

front end and still maintaining a kind of healthy rate so this is the green is

is what they really wanted to push forward so that's what we've

Roberta and the consultant team worked on to try to try to work out and that's

what we were able to come across one thing I missed in the last one so South

that project is is one the lift station and then there is a wet well that's

going in place so that project was split into two of those so seven and a half

million dollars lift station and then the rest of it would be later but this

one we're getting it all done right now

so getting closer to kind of what are the impacts to your average residential

bill again we'll get into some numbers on the next slide but just comparing them

side by side we thought it'd be helpful for the average residential bill impact

for year one versus current and by year five because we know this is a multi

year increase of double digit increases so just understanding the impact of next

year doesn't give you the full picture so we do show these side by side so you

can understand the immediate impact again from the low of 12% to the high of

of about 16 17 percent depending on the scenario but over time we see a bit of a

spread over the scenarios where the low of 52 percent not getting really those

critical projects done up to what the EU is recommending at 63 percent over the

five years so the rate five years from now would be 63 percent higher than it

currently is or the average bill that the resident pays I have just a quick

question I think I'm probably missing something so for the EU in the year one

it's 16% but then for the mid it's 17% in year one why is it why is it higher

in for number two than it is for number four that's a great question so what

there's a lot of moving parts here so as I mentioned earlier we're using rates

reserves as well as debt so there's different assumptions on how much debt

will be issued so we're covering different levels and we show there on

the third row there how much of the debt will be used to fund those projects in

the next five years so it's really a package of funding so the percentage

increases do change over time and they will continue to be slightly different

under each scenario if we looked at over ten years so in year one though EU

would be lower on on ratepayers but by the time you got to five years it'd be

63% versus 55 if I was just comparing those that's right because the timing

of the projects either being front-loaded verse in the latter part of

the five years how much are able to increase rates at the beginning of the

five-year period for compounding so it matters what you do in the immediate

year will affect what you get in year five it was the EU concerned about the

debt which is included in scenario four lower than the full ask not to my

recollection there wasn't comments on how much debt was being issued the

discussion was more along the lines of what critical projects would we be

deferring if we just stuck stuck with the mid capital projects one commissioner

did ask could could we just issue a lot of debt so we could fund everything which

is I mean yeah but not also not necessarily recommended so we're trying

to strike a good balance between those if you issue a lot of debt you have a

very large annual payment that must be made every year if you then have

conservation or drought or other things where you've got a half of your revenue

coming in based on actual usage yeah and you don't have that usage you you risk

not having enough revenue to pay your debt payment and that's when you end up

having a higher fixed rate so that you're you're you know so that you can

cover your debt and that just yeah so there was there was some conversation

about that but we just tried to strike a balance here between an appropriate

amount of debt that we thought was reasonable.

Is this amount including the new housing as well?

There are growth assumptions over the next five-year period.

What is that growth assumption?

I believe it was 1% increase.

I don't have that offhand.

Is it reasonable?

Because I'm not seeing any housing coming in the next 10 years because of the cost of

housing.

It's just hard.

It's based on historical trends looking at actuals.

There's a lot of development projects sort of in the hopper for the next few years,

but it's really hard to know when those things will really come online if they're not actually building right now.

And so we used historical, looked at historical increases in accounts on an annual basis

and carried that forward in our projection for now.

All right.

Anything else? Any other questions?

And keep in mind also this includes multifamily, so it's not just, I think maybe you're referring to the cost of single-family housing.

We have quite a few multifamily projects in the pipeline that are either under construction right now or soon to be.

That's helpful.

If they're under construction right now and something you can rely on versus something we approved and still have more work ahead to get those approved, then I'd rather not rely on that.

only because of the debt being

the drought it's been really dry this year okay

any do we need to give you thoughts or do you just how many more slides are

there this is it this is it for the sewer because the question always comes

up how do we compare to our neighbors Roberta did show what your current rates

and how they stack up against your neighbors so we've taken this

opportunity to compare all the scenarios for the first year and the reason we

only do it for the first year which would be effective April 1 2026 we don't

know what the other communities will be doing typically there's inflationary

increases at the least in most jurisdictions they don't hold off and

have a drought of no increases of what you're coming off of so we know these

they will increase over time so we didn't compare to the fifth year but we

know that's important piece of the puzzle is we're not just doing a large

increase now with CPI type increases moving forward so we did show here the

current on the far left of the 5488 and each scenario what that would do to the

average bill and I need to point out again I think Roberta mentioned because

I showed the current rate of $10.88 that's just for the collection for what

your staff maintains the Sacramento the sewer district treatment costs from the

Sacramento area sewer district are also included here which is $44 per month so

that's a pass through to the ratepayers that is billed by West Sacramento on

behalf of the Sacramento area sewer district so this is a combined bill so

we can compare it to all the other jurisdictions that have both collection

and treatment within their costs so we see a high of the 63 94 per month with

the mid slightly less than that 63 85 for what's recommended by the EU

Commission and the low at 6130 and the full ask at 6377 again this is a

snapshot of just the next year and those will change over the next five years as

well so the difference between the EU recommendation and the full ask would be

the key difference is the debt maybe the key difference is the amount of capital

projects that will be that have been included in the revenue requirement

because I saw more debt in that one but I'm looking at this chart now and it's

kind of different because it's just one year and a snapshot it's just one year

in a snapshot yeah I get it all right this is the first year in the first year

is a little odd between the four scenarios but when you get to the second

through 50 years they do fall in order that you would expect to see them where

your highest scenario is the high, the full ask, and then the EU is slightly lower than

that, then you've got your mid and then your low.

The first year is wonky, and a lot of it does have to do with debt.

Each year of the model, we have to meet our debt requirement, and so depending on how

much is issued and what your project costs are that year and your revenues, yeah, so

likely the reason that these are a little bit wonky the first year is just

has to do with the debt and the timing of the debt.

In taking into consideration Jay the cost if we incurred more debt we raise

the rates a little higher the cost of doing the full package of projects now

versus later and I'm still wrapping my head around the full package of costs

that the EU was recommending that.

Can you go into that again, just to explain that a little bit?

Am I making any sense?

Dean, if we can ask a clarifying question.

Yeah, I would like to clarify.

So the full ask, are you asking it with debt or with?

Well, because incurring more debt

is always stressful for, as you mentioned, to our budget.

we don't have the rates you know just making sure we cover the cost it'll cost

more for us in our reserve to cover that versus getting a rate that's covering

that but if we waited to get the project done and the cost increases you know

what is like well the trade-off that would be yeah so I want to mention

first when we started this process we had one scenario it was the full ask

scenario and that that looked really really bad and so we said okay we need

to go back to the drawing board and figure out some other scenarios so we

left that scenario as it was and we worked really really hard to fund the

projects that were prioritized in in the low and the mid scenarios so what that

means is I added a lot more debt in those scenarios we could add more debt

in the full ask scenario and get more done and probably even have a different

scenario that might have slightly lower rates if we added more debt. But I

didn't go back and adjust the full ask scenario just because we thought it was

it was not something you would ever go for. If that is something you're

interested in looking at, we can revisit the full ask scenario and issue, you know,

add more debt and see how low we can get those. But that was really the work we

did to develop the mid scenario, the scenario number two. So that one does have more debt

so that we could get more done. But there's so many variables and a million different

ways to slice and dice things to make them work. So, yeah. If we get good guidance from

you on what you want to see done and where you want to see rates, we can do whatever

we can to fit within that.

There's a lot of ways to do those.

That's very helpful, Roberta.

Thank you.

And I think that for us to help you decide how to approach this,

like the EU Commission did, and they provided, I think,

a really good template for a recommendation, provided it

covers, I think, for us, taking a look at what

are the priority projects, what are the ones that are most

critical and need to get taken care of right away.

and

But be reasonable with the rates. I know we're asking for a lot. It's

Gonna require debt to accomplish that which is what you provided as far as that

Additional scenario number two the middle

Does anybody have a recommendation on what they want to

And I'll reiterate as Roberta stated yeah, we could issue more debt

however you are constrained by that debt coverage ratio so you potentially might

do the opposite if you issue more debt you might have to raise rates even

higher to cover so you can meet that debt coverage ratio so it really was a

balance working with Roberta to try and balance the rates with the debt issuance

make sure you can meet your debt covenant so let's get into water yes

how long how many slides and it's very similar but we've covered a lot of

ground so I don't have to reorient you with what we're gonna cover I do just

want to lay out how your customers are currently charged for water there is a

fixed service charge for all customers it's based on their meter size how much

capacity of the system they need how much water comes through their meter they

range in size from 5 8 inch up to 10 inch the 10 inch are for your large

industrial customer customers that need a lot of capacity your residents pay the

$24.61 they're the smaller meters in addition there is a consumption charge

so how much water they actually use as Rebecca mentioned that first drop is

paid for by that fixed service charge but then each unit of water is charged

$2.43 per unit and we are not recommending changing the rate

structure just the rates so

similar to wastewater rates have not been increased since 2021 and costs are

increasing similar bar chart here you'll notice there's a bit more debt

service so we were a bit more constrained with how much debt you could issue

moving forward and that's depicted in that solid blue line but like sewer we

are seeing a great need for capital projects over the next four-year period

your current revenues of about 16 million are just covering your own M and debt

service in some capital for this current fiscal year and will no longer meet your

be able to pay your debt service if revenues are not increased over the next

five-year period nor fund those capital projects and we have the same bridging

that shortfall of using a combination of rates reserves and debt very similar

here I'll just quickly go through the scenarios with the master plan is the

full ask they're both about 18 million 18.6 million per year for water so a bit

higher on the water side. The MID has been reduced by about six million dollars, funding about 12.6

million down to the low, just those crucial ones that need to be done over the next five years,

7.8 million. And again, the EU looked at a couple of those projects that were being deferred from

the MID and asked to pull those forward. So something in between that MID and that full ask,

we'll walk through of what the EU had recommended at 15.3 million per year so

similar graph starting balance and the fund bounce is about 10 million in water

so we can utilize some reserves over the next five years or not bear it all on

the rates but again we'll reach that same target balance by the end of 2930

we're seeing similar increases in water just not quite as high what we saw in

sewer 30% this forthcoming year ending with the three seven percents as you see

there I do have some points of reference here as we go through each one this is

a cumulative increase of 88% for the full ask which is for your average

residential water user about nine dollars and fifty four cents per month on

average increase each year for the next five years

this is a much more extensive list hopefully we can get through it quickly

yeah I'll go through this list pretty quickly so this full ass is we'll ask

them 90 93 million and why our water list is so big why is it so big well we

take care of both treating the water and distributing the water so it's a whole

system right at the treatment plant so there's treatment plant projects

encompassed in this and there are distribution projects so one of those is

our reservoirs like Rebecca mentioned one of those is our central tank that's

in critical need of being realigned those usually cost about three million

dollars and the the most important project that we have on the list is a

high service manifold I consider that kind of like the heart of our water

treatment plant all the water goes through that and then it goes from there into all the pipes

like arteries um to get to the system so um very important key projects that are that are loaded up

and also some forward thinking projects um towards the end of the list on the full ask right here

is our water treatment plant alternate energy and solar project so um some some forward thinking

projects um and then a group of those in the in the center there from our building in pipe painting

that's at the plant itself the backwash system psip that is all that's that's

another project that's that's further out so this is kind of as we work

through it water does have a greater greater capacity I mean in the fund so

there is a larger list and we're able to move things around as we walk through

the scenarios we'll do the same thing it'll go in yellow and I'll show you

where the money's moving

So that's a $93 million capital ask.

Again, looking at kind of that mid-level,

some reduced increases for a cumulative increase

of about 52% over the next five-year period,

which is an average of $5.06 per month each year

for the next five years.

And this is where you can see as we're setting those rates

and trying to balance the use of reserves,

WE DO DIP BELOW THE TARGET FOR A COUPLE YEARS, BUT AGAIN, WE'RE

MINDFUL TO STAY ABOVE THAT RED LINE. SO WE DIDN'T DIP THOSE INCREASES

MUCH LESS THAN WHAT WE SEE HERE, BUT IT'S ON THAT UPWARD TRAJECTORY

THERE AT 2930 TO REACH THAT TARGET AND FUNDS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THE

NEXT FIVE-YEAR PERIOD.

SO WE'LL HIGHLIGHT DOWN TO THE ABOUT $63 MILLION ASK.

Alright, so for the MID, the annual water system repair project, some of those

findings were removed further. Our tank projects, we're doing less of those, so

all our reservoirs, we're just lowering some of that. We're still keeping the

priority project, such as central tank, in there. We're still seeking our high

service manifold, our critical projects in there. We did the same exercise with

staff. We took that giant North Arrow that we had from the master plan and we

prioritized every one of these projects and put them on the list. One of the

ones that you'll notice that's that's being pushed pushed forward everything

and yeah ever pushed across is things in yellow so the water meter replacement

project that currently does have a fund balance of almost nine million so we're

not adding any more to it we're just stopping that project and we're only

adding a million and so forth the list would continue beyond this for the next

ten years or five years as well

looking at that low trying to get the immediate impact to ratepayers you'll

notice just a 2% increase for 25 26 for for April so minimizing that immediate

impact but you'll notice still double-digit increases which is about a

56% cumulative increase under the low scenario just over six dollars per month

each year

And on the low on the water, it's a little bit more digestible and seeing, going through

this exercise as we were going through it, we looked at if we could even lower the water

more, how much would we gain more on the sewer?

And that's one of the questions that we had.

We had to drop it like 20 million to get 2 million.

It was not doable.

So the low for the water, you'll notice a number in red there.

The water meter replacement project, that has $9 million.

We'd be taking money out of that project to fund other projects because we need those critical infrastructure projects going.

That high service manifold, the hardest system that I told you about a second ago, that goes to splitting that into two years, which is keeping a system on bypass.

And that is estimated to be increased to $14 million.

dollars so as we prolong this or try to do this phase it out the consequences

are they are costing more money and we'd have to stop the water meter

replacement project which brings in revenue I mean that's revenue generating

we have to halt that take half the money or over half the money out and

redistribute it

Lastly, we'll preview the EU's recommendation.

Again, a cumulative increase about 61%, so in between that mid and full ask at about

$6.62 on average per month for your residential customers over the next five-year period.

And we'll highlight what projects they ask to add back to the mid, from the mid.

All right, going over this quickly, we still gained, this is from the Commission's recommendations,

to add more onto the annual water system replacement project.

So we're at $2 million there, and as it increases into the further years, that burn rate is

way front-loaded.

Again, we're able to do central, our critical tank that's in dire need, and high service

at the same time.

We are able to move some of the other tech projects forward as well.

We are able to continue with the plant projects, but this gets us to a point where we can also

increase the funding that's already available in the water meter replacement project and

keep that going.

The green is what the Commission recommended to us, and that's the decisions that we made.

And the yellow is still some of the stuff that we had to either cut or move on to for

years but this gave us a very healthy outlook on what we can get done

so comparing contrasting again and you'll see some anomalies where the low

has a larger five-year percent increase of 59 percent than you see for the mid

again that has to do with the timing of the increases the cumulative nature of

those as well as how much and when debt is issued and when the capital projects

occur but we felt this would be a good indication not necessarily about the

projects that are being contemplated but the rate impact to your average

residential customer that uses about 11 of these units per month that's the

average customer

Looking at the bill impacts to other jurisdictions, again, just looking at this next increase for

April 1st of 2026, comparing to the current rates surrounding you, we do see that full

ask at $68.62, so a much larger jump.

It's about $17.28 per month in this first increase.

And then it's decreasing as you look at the EU in between the mid and the full ask at about $11.65 per month, with the mid at $10.06 per month compared to current, and the low at $2.20 above what you're current, trying to reduce that immediate impact to just that 2% increase.

Again, this is comparing to other jurisdictions based on the average water use of 11 units of water.

So every customer's bill will differ, even on a month-to-month basis, we don't use water uniformly.

So this is just that average bill.

Looking at it combined, as what we're showing here, so you can see the impact of both the sewer and the water on the typical bill that a residential customer will see.

Again, this is more in line when you look at it collectively with the low on the left

side up to the full ask of $131.95.

So with that, we do know these are some significant increases.

So we're going to have Roberta discuss some low-income rate assistance programs.

Before we jump to that, may I ask a question?

Sure, go ahead.

When I was reviewing the staff report, it mentioned that we could choose four different scenarios, but we've been presented technically eight different scenarios.

When we provide feedback, are we mixing and matching, or they stick together, water and sewer, low, mid, high, EU recommendation?

Correct.

So we looked at four different scenarios as a whole, water and sewer combined.

but we have to look at and kind of present them separately because the the

rate impacts for each are separate so when we were looking at the four

scenarios we were looking at okay there's a visceral reaction to double

digit rate increases so let's do a low looking at 9% per year what can we get

for that right and but but that's the 9% per year on the total bill so through

that we're looking at all of those assumptions between the two water and

sewer but also really trying to prioritize sewer in those which is why

you see much less of an increase proposed in your low scenario for water

than you do for sewer because sewer is such a small annual amount anyway that

it looks like really high percentage changes but that gets four dollars a

month or whatever that is right so we have significant needs on the sewer side

which meant we tried to pour more into sewer, less into water.

At the end of the day, you have four total bill scenarios

that we're going to be asking you to weigh and provide feedback on.

Thank you.

I just wanted to mention, though, because I was looking this up,

and it's interesting that our two scenarios,

the middle, number two, which was our staff recommendation

to the EU Commission, and then they're recommended to you,

fall right in between Davis and the City of Sacramento,

which are our two sort of most comparable agencies when we look at age

of infrastructure costs and all of those things as well.

I'm going back. Okay. So we do have a low income rate assistance program. The

current program aligns with the PG&E care and the Sac Sewer Lifeline program,

so the same income requirements and in fact if you come and say hey look I'm on

their program then we just put you on our program. It is funded by a transfer

from Measure K. You cannot have some ratepayers subsidize credits or lower

rates for other ratepayers. That has to come from a general revenue source,

general, typically general fund. Part of Measure K when it was adopted was to

subsidize these types of things and the council made a decision to use Measure

K to subsidize rates for this program. So the program in whole, the Lara

program is $5 monthly credit, and that is split between $3 for your water bill or water and sewer,

and then $2 for the refuse or garbage bill. The utilization has been declining over the past

several years. In fact, this past year was the lowest we've seen it, but it has been steadily

declining over the last few years. We currently have, and I think it's actually 194, 194 residential

customers utilizing our low-income rebate program at an annual cost of only $7,000.

So we know that our utilization, so that utilization rate, and I have some data somewhere,

is very, very low, and 1.2%.

1.2%.

PG&E in the Yolo County area, for example, has a 96% use rate for their eligible

rate payers. And I'm making some assumptions because I don't have anything that says how

many people in West Sacramento actually meet our criteria and how many are signed up for PG&E. But

I was able to get that based on the certain HUD numbers about income that about 1.2% of who we

would be consider eligible households in our city are signed up for our program. About 96% are

signed up for the PG&E program. So I think first we are certainly doing more

outreach. We've come up with a program to get more outreach out to try and

increase the utilization of our existing program. But I've also provided

information in one of the attachments to your packet that shows what all of these

other agencies have as far as low-income credit or rebate programs so that you

can compare ours to theirs. I think ours is a little low compared to others. Some

don't have any rebate program. I didn't necessarily compare their rebates to

their total bill to see how how we compare there because we have maybe a

lower rebate but we also have a lot lower bill right now. But we do have a

program it is not utilized a lot for whatever reason that the utilization has

been reducing over the past few years and I think a lot of that may just be

that people are not aware of our program so we would like to do more outreach.

yes the source of the um the our sewer our low income rate assistance is it from measure k or

okay and residents in a potential scenario would they be able to access both the regional sanitation

sewer lifeline assistance program and the city of west sacramento yes they cover different pieces so

So the Sewer Lifeline program is a credit against their treatment costs and our low

income rebate assistance program is a credit against your water and then your sewer collection

costs.

So I believe they would get both.

They're both.

We have separate rates.

We're just passing through their bill.

So that we would also pass through any credit that they get from the Sewer Lifeline program.

Are you ready for our feedback? Are you done? No, I was waiting. Sorry if there were more questions, but I can continue. I'm almost done. Really close. So next steps are the goal is to get feedback from you tonight to select a scenario and give us directions so that we can start with the legal notification process.

I'll talk a little bit about what that process looks like and what we're really asking from you tonight in just a moment.

After we mail Prop 218 notices in January, hopefully, late January, early February,

we would have community outreach sessions where we will be there for the community to come talk to us, ask questions.

They'll have numbers in hand.

We can get their feedback, and those are going to be really good opportunities for us to

hear folks out and for them to get information from us to understand more about what these

rates are, what they will do, what they go to fund, and impacts of perhaps not doing

that.

We are also asking to have a protest hearing on March 18th.

At that time, that is when we would ask the council to adopt the proposed rates.

The new rates with this timeline would be effective April 1st, which would be billed

in May, and again, we'd receive our first revenue in June.

Before we go on to what the recommended action is, I'd like to just give a little bit of

... We talk about Prop 218, the Prop 218 process, this legally required process, and I just

want to make sure everybody kind of understands what that is.

So tonight, we are asking Council to select one of those rate scenarios, one, two, three,

or four and and for water and sewer as a whole to begin the prop 218 process the

prop 218 process is essentially a notification because utility costs are

related to the property they're property related and if you own a property you're

required to have the service so you don't get to opt out of water service to

avoid this rate increase for example so because of that we are required to send

a mailed notice that describes all of the details of the rates to every single customer.

So the Prop 218 notice or the process sets the maximum rate or the ceiling, the highest

that we can raise rates over the next five years.

We're not asking council tonight to adopt rates.

We're asking you to give us the ceiling so that we can start that process, start notifying

folks, work with them over the next few months and come back to council on March 18th to

actually hold a protest hearing and adopt rates at that point.

The Prop 218 notices are mailed to all property owners.

They are required to get those and have 45 days minimum between when we mail those and

when we have the protest hearing to give them opportunity to digest and understand what

it means.

Those notices detail the proposed rates, the basis for calculating those rates, and the

protest process and also gives them the the date of the protest hearing. In order

for rates not to be adopted we would need more than 50% of our customers to

submit a written protest against the rates. So if more than 50% of affected

property owners protest then we can't adopt rates. If less than 50% protest

then the council may choose to adopt rates. One other piece that has changed this a little bit is

AB 2257, which was effective in 2025. That changes so that we there's one protest for

per parcel, no matter how many people live in that home, they would get one protest for that parcel.

That's validated via the county assessor records. The agencies must adopt written

procedures which we have. The council approved those at the last meeting. The protest tabulation

must be open to the public and the city is required to provide written responses to every

written protest and justification we receive. That is a new process. Because of that, we

are actually giving more than 45 days between the mailing of the Prop 218 notices and the

protest hearing. I think it's 70 days or more. That's to allow the 45 days for protests

to be provided to the city to allow us time to evaluate those, to respond to those.

If there is a justified protest where we've done something wrong with these rates or somebody

brings up a really good thing that maybe we didn't consider, that gives us time to also

adjust and make sure that the rates that we're proposing align, right?

And all of those would be presented to the council at the time we ask you to adopt rates.

So all of the protests that we'd receive, all of the justifications, and all of our

responses to those would be provided to you at that time.

So Council has flexibility tonight.

Whatever you decide, whatever scenario you direct us to move forward with our notification

with, you're not stuck with it.

You may always adopt lower rates after this, after we do the Prop 21.

You cannot adopt higher rates, but you can adopt lower rates.

So the bottom line is tonight authorizes the legally required process.

There are no rate changes being approved.

We would come back to you in March for the protest hearing and ask you to adopt rates

at that time.

So, that being said, I'd love to open it up for the workshop and feedback and whatever

other questions you might have and then we've got the recommended action posted for you.

I'm going to open it up for public comment first, before I forget.

Josh Oaken.

Good evening Mayor and Council Members.

My name is Josh Oaken here on behalf of the Sacramento Association of Realtors.

We recognize the need to invest in aging water and sewer infrastructure.

These systems are essential and the community depends on them.

Our concern is how the proposed rate increases even in the lower scenarios will affect homeowners

who are already feeling financial pressure.

We would welcome the chance to work with the city to better understand the impact across

different income levels and neighborhoods and to support more community engagement as

options are refined, specifically the rate assistance programs.

Our members live and work in this community.

They want reliable infrastructure and a path to stable homeownership.

We hope to partner with you in finding a path that supports both.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Josh.

We have no additional requests to speak on this item.

Thank you, Madam.

Closing the public comment,

bringing it back to Council for any questions.

Council Member Ocala.

You mentioned that each parcel would get one vote.

How many parcels are there in West SEC?

You must have already figured that out.

Well, we're talking about,

we've got about 16,000 residential accounts.

It would have to be 8,000 parcels for the 50%.

Would have to protest yes

And that well that's residential there's also commercial

I don't know how many commercial accounts we have but 50% of customers would have to a multi-family housing. That's still one

Each unit of the multi-family housing I believe

The multi no that doesn't make sense stuff does it a multi-family would only get one

One per parcel.

The multifamily consists of a single parcel, just one.

The community outreach that will be done, so say for example, the Sac Realty representative

who came in to weigh in a little bit on the impact that would have on the homeowners,

what does that look like?

Well, we'd be happy to meet with them and understand more.

As part of the outreach process, we will be mailing notices.

We will be opening up our offices for folks if they want to come in and talk,

and we'll be holding these outreach sessions where we talk about education,

what we're looking at, and answer questions and provide feedback.

So they're welcome to attend any of those.

As part of that process, we will also have a bill calculator online.

We have a dedicated website that's set up for this rate process

where all of the information and documents related to any of these meetings

or anything we're sending out is available there.

We've got rates 101 video,

but all of the information that goes into this process

is able to be found there, along with the bill calculator.

So once we have a scenario that we can use

to create a bill calculator,

that people can go in and take their current bill

with their current consumption

and put in what that looks like

and see what their new bill would be.

So there's a lot of options.

We also have a dedicated utility rates email address that is being monitored so that anybody with any questions or feedback on the rates or the process throughout this process can reach out to us at any time.

Thank you.

And to provide the transparency of making sure that these increased costs will be funded, will fund these particular projects, how does that look like?

Well, I mean, through our normal budget process, there's not currently a process by which we come and report specifically for water or sewer projects or those types of things like we do for tax measures.

It's always an option, but it's reported through our budget process through our audit our financial reports that you can find on online

So there are there are several processes by which that information is made available

but not one specifically

To compare what we've done to what we said we would do for water and sewer

Okay

Just making sure that you know we do fund projects that we had discussed and the council makes the decisions on those

So all of those would come to council for approval during the budget process.

Okay.

And in that website, when the people are looking at scenarios,

are they also looking at the particular impact of the projects not taken care of because of the lack of funding?

They have the information that is available to you is on the website.

So all of the lists of projects, the different scenarios,

and those impacts are available out there for them to view as well.

Okay. I'd prefer to give the sticker shock rate

so people can actually see, you know,

look at this is going to be how high it could be.

You don't weigh in.

You know, we are going to set a rate

that is going to achieve the goals of fulfilling,

getting all the projects completed,

and we can take a look at what those options look like.

But without, you know, and I know the realtors

is asking for a more conservative approach,

but I actually was thinking the realtors would appreciate increasing rates only because it protects the value of properties,

and you're going to sell a home that has more quality infrastructure.

I would say that this would counter-argue looking at what we're doing in this infrastructure

is going to help maintain safety, public health,

you know, and assuring the community for years and, you know,

20 years maybe out that that investment is going to be safe

rather than a sinkhole or sewage backing into your home

or whatever other scenario we've heard tonight

and making sure that all of this is funded properly.

So, yeah, that would be my approach.

I think maybe I may have misheard when Josh from the Realtors came up.

I thought, at least the impression I received, but again, I could be wrong here,

that they want to participate in the process.

And so I appreciate the mayor pointing out or asking the question of where there will be opportunities

for them to participate and also to better understand and be able to inform both their association

as well as ideally we could also use them as community education of why these things are

happening and so appreciate them them being here as far as feedbacks i know we have folks waiting

for the the next thing um mid would definitely be what um what i would suggest and give feedback

because i think you also wanted to hear our feedback on this right i do i think wondering

for our city attorney really quick if we are if we ultimately will need a

motion and action and everyone to agree on or a or is this warm feedback we

will ultimately you'll need to let her to know which for water and sewer which

he needs to vote though yeah well yes I know this is a determination on your

part so that we can send the notice out it is not an action to adopt the rate

but it is it is adopting the rates that will be distributed via the notice to

say to customers on March 19th the council will consider adopting fees and

they could be as much as this yeah I just want to know like are we voting a

vote sir as long as long as we have enough folks agreeing I don't know that

we need them yeah I think it would be better to go ahead and vote yeah okay

Real quick question, Mayor Burke.

I'm sorry, Mayor.

Mayor, real quick question.

Go ahead.

I just wanted to, are we sending any kind of notice out with the utility bills?

Well, we can send notice with the utility bills, but we send notices separate from

the utility bills as well.

So the Prop 218 notifications get sent out separate from the utility bills.

We also send information via email for those people who are signed up for paperless and

With the utility bills, there's notes sometimes that can be added to point them to the rates

website so that they can get more information.

We will do some of that, but the legal notice will go out separate, mail to each individual.

My comment real quick.

I would definitely be more comfortable with the EU recommendation or the mid-level.

I think coming out of this meeting, even if we don't have intention to raise the rates

to the max, I think that's going to be really hard to communicate that during this process.

And so I feel a lot more confident if we were a little bit tighter in the EU recommendation.

And I just want to compliment that commission for digging in so deeply and coming back with

a recommendation.

I think they really did their job.

And so I'd be comfortable with their recommendation, but I could agree with the MID as well.

And to be clear, the staff recommendation was the mid?

Yeah.

Just to make sure I'm keeping up with you guys.

Yeah, the staff recommendation was the mid and then the EU commission asked us to revise

that and add some things to it.

So they're both highlighted in your packet.

The mid would work for us.

The mid would work for you.

Go ahead.

I'm sorry, ma'am.

I was just going to ask.

Is that scenario four?

The EU Commission scenario is scenario four.

The MID scenario is scenario two.

And your recommendation is, yeah, that'll be helpful.

Get all those.

Okay.

So the MID is your recommendation and the EU,

it's either or.

I will say the MID was staff's recommendation to the EU Commission.

No take backs.

They have now said, well, we'd love to add these other priority projects, and every staff

person sitting here would say yes.

That's fine.

And the full ask is...

So nobody's asking for the full ask.

The full ask is the ideal scenario.

I don't think anyone expected that the council would go for that.

We all recognize that it's a big impact.

And so I believe that we, stop me if you're wrong, but I believe we said the mid option

is a workable option.

It is sort of middle range.

It gets us our priority projects.

It gets the funding for the critical things that we need to do.

It sets aside so that we've got funding on an annual basis to do more preventative maintenance

and those types of things.

And so it is a workable scenario.

Nobody's going to complain if you try and give them more money though.

So I think if I could chime in just as I'm sitting here listening to the conversation,

appreciate the council's feedback hearing consensus and some good points around

how we communicate what the ultimate outcome may be you know the appreciate

mayor that you know we have a full build scenario that has a cost associated

with it it's it's not staffs recommendation for all the reasons you

heard but we do appreciate the recognition of the total cost of what

the system would be ideally I also the vice mayor's comment about communicating

that I think sitting here listening to the discussion I think staff would be

comfortable if there was a balance on on those points the EU recommendation kind

of strikes that because it does set a slightly higher amount that is closer to

the you know the optimal scenario but it's not so high that if the council

comes in later and says okay we're gonna set it at a lower rate that

communication point that the vice mayor made is is a little a little bit more

you know it's it's not as hard to communicate it to where the rate could

be this high but it you know we it could come in at the staff recommendation if

we set it at the full rate I think you run into that problem where people will

assume that that's what you're gonna do and it'll make it a little bit harder to

communicate that to the public

I understand that.

So basically what I'm saying is I think.

I don't think you'll get the 50% protest from that.

But I do understand that this is, like I said, this is a very complicated process.

And that's why my initial question was about the outreach and how that approach is going

to be taken.

Because I got a text right now that this should have been its own workshop meeting in itself.

because this is very long and it's late,

and there's a lot more we could have covered.

We sort of rushed through your water presentation

just to get through this.

But, you know, knowing and, you know,

I don't know if your rates for the number,

for your original was published,

but it makes sense that she made these modifications,

given, you know, it,

and you probably made them looking at the other Thompson,

analysis as well.

So it's reasonable that we fall in that range.

Explaining that to the public, I don't know if they'd take it

in.

I don't know if they'd even care.

They're all going to care about their bottom line.

And that's it.

I mean, and how we help, whether or not we're

going to ask them to save water.

If you want to reduce your rates, lower your water bill.

but you have control over that.

But at the same time, we're estimating based on usage

today.

So I appreciate we're going to be able to try to communicate

as much as we can, but it's not going to be an easy task.

And we're going to have to, my thing

is we're going to have to take care of these projects.

And we're going to have to move forward.

And it's going to be expensive to take care of it.

If there's other scenarios like any other funding sources

to cover other than the bond, we have the bond.

I'm open to that in future budget discussions.

Well, we already look at those now.

So we're certainly looking for grants.

There are some things available for certain types

of projects, but not for the main normal everyday

sort of repair and replacement type things.

But for water supply and some of the more innovative things,

there are certainly grants and we're looking at those as well.

We also, in the assumptions for debt, looked at a 30-year bond at 5% or whatever the current

rate is.

There are programs like the WIFIA and the State Revolving Fund Loan Program that provide

low-income financing.

So to the extent that we're able to find lower-income financing than a bond, then that'll

allow the funds to go further and we can get more done as well.

And Mayor, I just want to finish my point there.

I listen to the discussion my point was that the the EU Commission and

recommendation seems to strike the most balance between the discussion thus far

and each council members points and preferences for where the rates could be

set yeah okay do you have enough information I've heard three different

things from three different people so I definitely have to do okay but first do

Do you have enough information?

I mean, I appreciate we do need a motion.

I mean, once there's a motion on a scenario

that is adopted, I will absolutely, and I do, yes,

I appreciate all of the information that you provided

as far as which scenario we will move forward

with a notification with.

I'm not entirely clear yet,

and so I will wait for your motion.

On what we decided here.

All right.

With that, there's a motion

that somebody would like to provide.

Are you clear on what the motion is?

No.

Okay.

Council, would you provide some direction on the motion?

Because I think we're pulling this together based on the presentation.

Roberta, would you prefer that they do it sewer and then water rather than...

No, I want one scenario that is a whole.

So I would love a motion that the council directs staff to move forward with the Proposition

218 legal notification process utilizing scenario number fill in the blank

And just I know it should be clear, but just to reiterate it once

Yes, we're adopting a ceiling of what the rates could be we are not setting rates with this with this tonight

It allows us to proceed with the 218 election with that. I'm just tired. I'm clear. Okay

So real quick council members could you have any comments? Yeah

Yeah, I was curious.

It looks like on the table what we have here is the mayor says,

full throttle, pull off the Band-Aid.

We have to just present to the-

Well, they don't want that.

It's the optics of the full throttle that they don't want to throw out there.

Well, wait.

We're setting the policy here as a council, so I just wanted to put that out there.

And then you have other council members say, well, I appreciate the EU commission.

Councilman Rockhollow, do you have a thought as to your position with respect to the options?

I thought option, not option, scenario four.

Was it appropriate, yeah.

I thought it would just sort of balance out everything.

I was hoping your recommendation,

staff recommendation mid, because I know there are a lot

of people who are very concerned.

Times are tough right now.

And for some people it may not seem like a lot,

you know, say what, a $10 as opposed to $5.

But some people are going to have a tough time with that.

We may not.

We may not even be sensitive to that.

But we need to talk with people out there.

Oh, we're all going to get hit.

All right.

All of us are going to get hit.

I know that, Mayor.

I guess what I'm trying to say is some of us can buffer it a lot more than others.

I mean, my entire life is dedicated to working with vulnerable communities who live in poverty.

So I'm definitely sensitive to it.

I think we're going to be seeing the impact of what's happening at the federal level between food and water.

I mean, I don't know.

This is going to be rough in the coming years.

And the next two years are going to be horrific

for people living in these kinds of situations

where $1, $2, $5 makes a huge difference.

So I don't take this lightly at all.

Which is, I think, yeah.

We have to get the projects done.

I also want to add that this will provide jobs,

local job opportunities.

I'm not going to just take a look at it as rate increases,

but it'll provide jobs.

And this is a time when we see a tough economy,

people struggling, you know, historically.

This is an opportunity that provides local jobs

and opportunities for people that are struggling.

So as a daughter of a person who lives on a fixed income

in a mobile home park,

we suffer through this scenario a lot more frequently

than we wish.

and the proposal of a $6 increase anywhere

means that that's one fewer item on a Walmart order

that is going to get delivered to the house.

So this whole conversation,

it took me a long time to get up here with a straight face

and be able to digest

that this could have a tremendous impact on certain folks.

And I mean, this is not just an inconvenience to some people.

It's a severe hardship.

And so when I stand up or when I sit up here and I speak,

I am absorbing and I appreciate this lengthy discussion because this is a very

very lengthy and complicated scenario set of scenarios and I appreciate all of the hard work that the entire team has put on and

bringing the PVC pipe scenario over here for us to

acknowledge

You know it's our responsibility as a council to make these hard decisions

You know, our responsibility is obviously to make sure that our infrastructure is safe and reliable and that we, you know, we have to meet these federal standards and unfunded liabilities that get turned to us as a municipality to meet these standards.

And we don't have the money to do that.

So we're having this conversation, which in lots of scenarios, I'm thinking, gosh, none of them.

I don't want any of them.

I don't want to raise any increase, any, you know, fewer rate increase or I don't want water.

But we have to.

OK, now, obviously, the EU Commission's recommendation

matters to me because we have selected the experts

of our community who have stepped forward to become

educated to give us a recommendation.

So I respect that highly.

I do not dismiss those recommendations.

I respect my colleagues and their positions as well.

My concern, and just in addition,

is that I'm highly sensitive to people in our community

who are experiencing financial hardship.

And I do not want this to be falling on their shoulders

disproportionately.

We as a city need to raise up and make sure

that our infrastructure is up to par

and that it is safe, effective, and modern,

so that way we can sustain the operations of our city.

That is our job.

But in hearing the presentation about how many people actually

utilize the rate assistance program I feel we can we can do a little bit

better there because again for those people who have reached out to us and

said I'm a senior and you want to you know the the rates for the pass is gonna

really to make a difference as to whether or not I'm gonna participate or

not we think about these things and so I'm refreshed to hear that we are

following the guidelines of PG&E and what we're doing at Regional San by the

way that is the one thing I argue about every single time it comes up is our

sewer lifeline assistance program and making sure that West Sacramento's have

the benefit of that program because they use PG&E as sorry they use SMUD to

determine who it is that needs the what we don't have some right here for better

for worse we don't have sweat here so you know to make sure that West

Sacramento is covered and and that we're getting the attention that we need

In this particular case, I just feel like, you know, the transparency, the outreach,

and I appreciate the way that this is being structured, not only that it's being implemented,

but that it's being structured in a particular way.

But in appreciating what happens if we don't do this, knowing how the funds can be used,

because Measure O cannot be used for this type of thing, and I mean, it is very, very structured.

That you know, I mean even as I know

We've been trying to avoid rising costs and regional sanitation board for a long time

And even they are getting implemented because the cost of chlorine a cost of maintaining

the operations is different now so you know for the sake of regulatory compliance and

All the expenses we face with these upcoming projects I say if we are to go on the higher end as proposed or as

supported by some of our council, that would only mean

that we would pay a lot more attention to who it is

that we get to help through that increase as well.

Knowing that it's not free, but I just wanna ensure

that our lowest income residents have a safety net.

Are you proposing a change to the program?

I'll take that one.

So I think one of the advantages of the EU commission proposal compared to staff's proposal,

this is something we'll need to evaluate further, because obviously we're sensitive to the issue you just raised.

It's the reason we have the program in the first place, why we're looking at revamping it as we do these increases.

But one of the advantages of the EU commission option is it does create more revenue.

If you, to the extent you increase the amount of subsidies for low-income households, you know, there's a gap in the finance system for the program.

And that money has to come from somewhere to still deliver the amount of projects you would like to do.

So having more revenue coming into the program potentially offsets some of the subsidies that could be offered for the households that you're speaking of.

otherwise that money has to come from other sources you know general fund

sources tax measure like measure K and Bert will be the first person tell you

there's not a lot of capacity in those in those sources right now so that's

something we'll definitely look at when we come back to actually set rates we

can bring more information about what a revised program could look like

There is a scenario, however, we ultimately will have a rate assistance program even if

we did the mid tier.

The rate assistance program exists and will continue to exist.

Regardless of the scenario, correct.

And what I'm hearing though is that the capacity for rate assistance would be expanded if we

have the capacity with the EU Commission's recommendation there.

Yeah, there are two ways you can fund this type of program. One is through a transfer

or subsidy from your general fund or measure K. And the other is through essentially doing

fewer projects. Right? So I think what the city manager is saying is by going with the higher

rate scenario, the EU scenario number four, if it gives you more revenue coming

in and the council could then decide to use some of that revenue to basically

you would do fewer projects, you could do fewer projects and use some of that

revenue to offset that without having to increase a subsidy from another source.

so depending on what that program looks like we do less with the with the

revenue that we're bringing in or we subsidize from another source and they're

either way could fund a program like that

I think he's saying you'd have more more options with that higher the number four

scenario I mean the program exists regardless we're gonna fund it

regardless I think what we saw and we heard though again is that potentially

not enough people know about it I mean like at a very very basic level right

like I think you said we're spending like seven thousand dollars a year it's

gone down every year and this is definitely the lowest that I've seen

there's a mismatch yeah yeah but programs don't work like that but it's

also a function of who actually can take advantage of it just to be clear right

now it's it's only available for flat rate payers is that correct it's available for everybody

so um it is available for everyone that was my i that was my understanding at first um and that as

we were implementing meters and moving people off of a flat rate program that that was naturally the

utilization was going down but it is available for everybody regardless of whether they're on