Antioch to Host Public Hearing on Proposed Water and Sewer Rate Increases

The City of Antioch wishes to notify you of a Public Hearing of the City Council on May 12, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at the City Hall Council Chambers to discuss Water and Sewer rate increases for fiscal years (FY) 2015/16 through 2019/20.

The City will accept public comments at the Public Hearing. The City Council may take action to implement increases at this meeting. The meeting facility is accessible to the handicapped. Auxiliary aides will be made available upon request, in advance, for persons with hearing or vision disabilities.

Protests

Any customer of record who is subject to the proposed utility charge that is the subject of the hearing may submit a written protest to the City by: Delivery to the Public Works Department Office, 1201 West 4th Street, Antioch, CA during published business hours; Mail to the Public Works’ office at P.O. Box 5007, Antioch, CA 94531-5007, or Personally submitting the protest at the Public Hearing.

Protests must be received by the end of the public hearing, including those mailed to the City. No postmarks will be accepted. Any protest not actually received by the close of the hearing, (whether or not mailed prior to the hearing) shall not be counted. Only one protest will be counted per parcel. Emailed, faxed and photocopied protests shall not be counted. Although oral comments at the public hearing will not qualify as a formal protest unless accompanied by a written protest, the City Council welcomes input from the community during the public hearing on the proposed charges.

A written protest must include the following, and shall not be counted if any of these required elements are omitted: identification of which proposed charge is the subject of the protest (e.g. water rate, sewer rate or both); name of the customer of record who is submitting the protest; identity, by street address or utility account number of the parcel with respect to which the protest is made; original signature and legibly printed name of the customer of record who is submitting the protest.

Need for Rate Increases

The proposed increases are necessary to maintain the financial stability and structural integrity of the City’s Water and Sewer Programs, and to address new Federal and State regulatory mandates, as well as increasing costs affecting both Water and Sewer operations.

Utility fee calculations are based on the cost of operation and maintenance expenses (including labor, utilities, supplies and materials), capital expenditures for infrastructure, and adequate reserves for meeting capital and operational needs.

This rate increase addresses the rising costs of treating water as well as maintaining water distribution and wastewater collection systems; and the need to meet increasing mandates from both Federal and State agencies. The City is committed to proactively improving and maintaining our aging systems while providing excellent services at all levels within our programs.

The City is recommending annual rate adjustments in monthly commodity and service charges for both programs.

Water Rates – Proposed Rate Structure (Table 1): The rate structure has two components: 1) a monthly meter service charge which varies by meter size: and 2) a quantity rate for actual metered water usage in each of four elevation zones. Quantity rates increase for higher elevation zones as a result of additional electricity costs associated with pumping water to higher elevations. Most single family customers have a ⅝ x ¾-inch meter. Average monthly water use for single family customers has decreased from 15 HCF (about 370 gallons per day) to 13 HCF (about 320 gallons per day). In order to promote continued water conservation, and to penalize wasteful consumption, two-tier quantity rates have been developed for single family customers. The first tier quantity rate applies to water use equal to or below average monthly water use; the second tier quantity rate applies to above average water use. All other customers (those shown as “Non- Single Family” in the chart above including multi-family, industrial, commercial, etc.) have a uniform increased quantity rate that applies to the applicable elevation zone.

Sewer Service – Proposed Rate Structure (Table 2): The sewer rate structure has two unit cost components: 1) a monthly account charge which is the same for all accounts and dwelling units; and 2) a quantity rate for the volume of wastewater discharge. Residential accounts are assigned to one of three categories: single family, multiple family (two,

three or four dwelling units) and apartment and mobile homes. Each residential customer category has a different volume of wastewater discharge that reflects differences in indoor water use discharged into the sanitary sewer. The unit cost components and the volume of wastewater discharge for each residential customer category are used to calculate a different uniform monthly charge for each residential customer category. Monthly charges for individual nonresidential accounts are the sum of the monthly account charge component plus the quantity rate component times the volume of wastewater discharge. The volume of wastewater discharge for nonresidential accounts is equal to metered water use (water use for irrigation or fire protection is not included).