Less water for more money?

How did I not know about senior discounts?

Does this mean that they will use the extra funds to actually do something proactive like additional supply storage so that when the next drought happens they will be prepared??

This is so typical. Conserve and be penalized. Don't conserve and be penalized. Oh, and I'm sure that if we have a few wet winters and the mandatory restrictions are lifted people will consume more water and they will lower the rates, right? Total bullsnot.

the article states water &a sewer rates to increase. Are they not 2 separate rates? How will sewer rates be affected?

"The council also endorsed a plan to lower the allowable consumption rate before heavy-use charges are imposed from 40Ccf to 20, which Wagner said is a low-use rate."

I'm confused by this part. According to my water bill, surcharges and penalties kick in when 30 ccf per billing period is exceeded, not 40 ccf. The limit before surcharges/penalties was 40 ccf last year.

A 30 ccf limit is manageable, but a 20 ccf limit is going to cause a lot of pain to a lot of people.

Damon, I was asking the same question. Now if you don't meet the 20 Ccf, they get you to pay the penalties. This way they make more money. This is the classic squeeze - damn it if you do, damn it if you don't.

Why do we always move to raise rates and not cut costs??? I am sure there is a lot of "fat on the bone" Typical government entity. Corporations understand this........personal budgets understand this? I vote to look internally to the excess that can get cut prior to raising rates. I shower with a bucket in very morning and use reclaimed water to water my lawns. My water bill was still $200 so I can't get where you come up with those status. Maybe an audits do...........

@Kyrridwen

They will use the increase to fatten wallets. Nothing will be done to increase storage and or route recycle lines to parks.

And like someone else already mentioned- rates will increase but never decrease.

@Steve: "I shower with a bucket in very morning and use reclaimed water to water my lawns. My water bill was still $200 so I can't get where you come up with those status."

Since the water company has large fixed costs like salaries and maintenance regardless of how much water it actually delivers, of course the price of water on a per unit or per gallon basis has to increase if everyone is using less water. That's expected. I know it's aggravating, but if you look at the price of water as being dominated by large fixed costs which have to be about equally divvied up among all users then it makes a bit more sense what's happening.

You mentioned that your water bill was "still $200", which I take to mean that although your per unit or per gallon cost of water has gone up, that your total bill is about the same as before. If your example is typical of most Pleasanton water users, then that means that the water company's revenue isn't dramatically increasing despite the fact that it is charging more per unit of water. Whether the water company could do more to reduce their fixed costs now that they are delivering much less total water to everyone is a good question that I don't know the answer to.

This doesn't take into consideration how many people live in your home vs. what your consumption is. We're a family of 5, and we're currently exempt from the mandatory reduction because we ALREADY conserve. So what now? We do with LESS? There are going to be a lot of smelly people around...

Chris47, don't get excited, it's usually not enough to buy and ice cream cone.

Whoa! I just noticed that the PW quietly re-edited their article so that the sentences I noted in my first post referring to "heavy-use charges" (i.e., penalty charges?) above 20 ccf per billing cycle no longer exist. Now the section reads as follows:

"The council also endorsed a proposal to lower the allowable consumption to qualify for the senior and income-eligible discounts from 40Ccf to 20, which Wagner said the national average consumption is 23Ccf."

That's a big difference in meaning. So, PW, there is no proposal on the table to put in a hard surcharge/penalty at 20 ccf per billing cycle? Is the proposal for the surcharge/penalty to remain at 30 ccf per billing cycle, or is the idea to replace the surcharge/penalties with a tiered pricing system?

If rates are going to be increased, the costs must be decreased.

It is not fair that senior citizens pay the rate increase twice each billing period when all other residents pay the rate increase only once each billing period.

Senior citizens live on fixed income and should not be abused by Jerry Pentin and his suggestion to double bill the senior citizens, by way of reducing the senior discount from 20% to 15% and also charging a rate increase on average $10.73 to each senior citizen each billing period.

Financial abuse of the elderly is a felony.

@Michael Austin: "Financial abuse of the elderly is a felony."

Are you seriously trying to suggest that reducing the senior discount from 20% to 15% is a form of felony "elder abuse"? BTW, any low-income elderly can continue to claim the 30% income-eligible resident discount.

City of Pleasanton Water currently has senior discount but must be less than 40 units and percentage is greater - so reduce usage to qualify to pay more but at the reduce rate.

We discovered that Pleasanton Garbage had a senior discount and they told us about the senior discount for water. Would have been nice to know when spouse became a senior.

@senior (Not to hijack this thread, sorry to all) I could not find anything on Pleasanton Garbage Service web site about their senior discount; how old do they require you to be to be a "senior" thanks

In order to implement the proposed rate increases and the changes in the rate
structures, Proposition 218 requires the City to publish and mail a 45 day notice of said
increases and /or structural changes to the rates to all water and sewer customers and
hold a public hearing to adopt the proposed rates. In addition to the required notices,
the City as part of its standard operating procedures is proposing to publish an
additional notice of the public hearing regarding the rate changes ten days in advance
of the public hearing proposed to be scheduled on October 6, 2015 as outlined in the
schedule shown below. Finally, staff is planning to hold several workshops for the
public to receive more information regarding the proposed rate increases and to meet
with the Economic Vitality Committee of the City and the Chamber of Commerce to
discuss the impacts on the business community.
The following is the proposed schedule of events:
Date
July 21
Action
Mail Proposition 218 Notice to all water and sewer customers
July 22 Publish 45 day notice of the Public Hearing scheduled for October
6, 2015
August 5 and 20 Hold public workshops regarding proposed water and sewer rate
increases ( evenings)
August 20 and 26 Meet with the Economic Vitality Committee of the City and the
Chamber of Commerce regarding proposed water and sewer rate
increases
October 6 Hold Public Hearing and consider proposed rate increases

Web Link

@Damon:

Yes!

Jerry Pentin with the full approval of the Pleasanton City Council are attempting to require senior citizens to pay 5% more money than all the other resident citizens that received water and sewer billing statements.

I have contacted State Attorney General kamala Harris office and asked that they weigh in with an opinion.

It's in way you interpret numbers I guess. And knowing where the numbers come from. Looking at your water bill, you see four items Pleasanton fixed meter charges, Pleasanton fixed sewer charges, Dublin San Ramon fixed sewer charges, and Zone 7 water charges.

The Senior and Disabled discounts are based on the Pleasanton charges only. So, that is probably less than $10 a month in most cases. Used to be a discount for DSRSD but that is gone. Reducing the discounts for Seniors from 20% to 15% would amount to a couple of dollars per household.

Looking at the Budgets and prior year results specifically the Enterprise funds for Water and Sewer it appears they are both solvent and Revenues exceed Expenditures by some $2 million.

A major program to send recycled water to parts of Pleasanton starts in August, supposedly saving 450 million gallons of potable water. Perhaps the money is needed for that. Also, the city and Zone 7 are giving rebates to those who convert their lawns into water efficient landscapes.

The notion that Enterprise funds need to be self sustaining within themselves needs to be looked into also. Sometimes, it makes more sense using the General Fund for some items.

For me, start with looking at the expenditures first then look at revenues. Don't just raise rates because its the most expedient way

I second Damon's question. BIG difference in wording there. So which is it: penalties for exceeding 20 units period (which is ridiculous; larger families would find it VERY hard to comply) or does the wording pertain to the senior discount requirement?

highdiver

Please provide links to the data you cite.

I agree with you...look at expenditures first CAP-EX, OP-EX, and fixed costs.
Look for cost reductions.

Hope to see you at one of the City sponsored workshops!

Folks, this is a TAX INCREASE in disguise.

We were, as a city, already paying the water costs. Since only 87% of the water costs were paid by water users, 13% was paid out of general tax revenues.

If the water rates are increased, then to avoid burdening the population more there should be offsetting tax cuts. Otherwise those tax revenues are going to be spent on something else besides water. What is it?

In the absence of OFFSETTING TAX CUTS, this is simply a tax hike of $60/year per household.

P.S. The sewer and service charge should pay for all the equipment and salaries. The per-unit water cost should pay for actual water. I find it hard to believe that the cost of water has actually increased.

Local officials have warned the ruling from the Santa Ana-based appeals court may force cities and water districts to rely more on other tools, such as more advertising, water audits, rebate programs for low-water appliances, restrictive rules on lawn watering and fines for violators.

But legal experts and water officials also say water districts will still be able to use the tiered rates if they can demonstrate they are closely tied to the cost of providing water services.

Amid the most severe drought in California's 164-year history, Brown has ordered urban residents to cut water use by 25 percent statewide. One key tool that Brown had recommended was for local governments to set rate structures with higher "surcharges, fees and penalties" for people who use large amounts of water.

But that approach -- conserve or pay a much higher water bill -- was thrown into doubt by the 4th District Court of Appeal's conclusion that such charges may violate Proposition 218, a 1996 ballot measure that barred governments from charging more for a service than it costs to provide.

The court did not invalidate the use of rate tiers entirely. It said, however, that cities and water agencies can charge more only if they can document that it costs them more to provide the extra water.

The court ruling, because it is "published," sets statewide legal precedent that can be used in other court challenges to water district policies and at a minimum forces local water officials and lawyers to reconsider how they can legally enforce water conservation. As of now, there are two similar legal battles unfolding against the Sweetwater Authority, a San Diego area water district, and the city of Glendale's water district

Web Link

An email explanation from the mayor:

"The action of the City Council last Tuesday night only authorized the staff to distribute a "Prop. 218" notice to the residents of Pleasanton and establish October 6, 2015 as the public hearing date. No rates can be increased until after that public hearing is held. Prop. 218 does not allow an increase in fees from those announced in the 218 notice after the notice has been distributed. That is why the decrease in the senior discount was included in the notice. We can raise it back to 20% at the public hearing, but we could not have lowered it to 15% if it remained at 20% in the notice".

Jerry Thorne

It would be nice if the city of Pleasanton would define rate, surcharge, fee, and penalty in relation to water bills and when and how they are applied. This article throws these words around haphazardly and it has obviously led to reader confusion.
It would be nice to have, like Livermore instituted, a banking system, where if the ratepayer saves more than 25%, they will be able to use the saved water at a later date. Pleasanton system is more like a management by punishment. Either do this or else! Pretty poor when you have to start taking away senior citizen benefits. Livermore and Dublin/San Ramon water districts seem to be forward thinking. Pleasanton, not so much.
The best way to not get re-elected....Jerry...is to screw the senior citizens.
Taxpayer money should be used to fund special discounts like low income and senior citizen. This was community decision, the community should pay for these costs.

Nice to know our city is practicing age discrimination. If your a certain age you get a discount. Good job Pleasanton do blacks get a discount too What about the Jews

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that tiered rates are against the law are we going to get our money back that has been taken illegally from us all these years?

Great question Jerry, let's all send emails to the city council and ask them this question?

I was at the City Council meeting where the Council members were told that they could raise the levels and discount amount on Oct. 6th, but not lower it. So, they picked low numbers for the senior discount. Go to the meetings if you want them increased. Only Karla Brown seemed to want to completely eliminate the discount. She was afraid that some rich seniors were having an unfair advantage.

Charging more for this stinky, colored pee hard water in Pleasanton?
This is not drinking water! It is sewage water as it tastes and smells like it!

Am I the only one that cannot fathom what my water rate is.

Water rates are supposedly standard & setup by the city. Does anyone have a link?
Why does the Pleasanton city / water website not show the rate information?

My zone 7 / Pleasanton water bill never shows my actual water rates / per unit on my water bill?
• Only the total charges are shown to keep rates & further rate increases in the dark.
• Water billing dept claims there is no room to show rates?
o All I ask is that my charged water rate(s) per unit be detailed & shown explicitly (not the laundry list of rates available for everyone including the city camel)

The city is applying the $4/unit surcharge to the 30 units we are allowed plus the units we exceeded. This is likely to not hold up in court.