Sewer Rates: Running Uphill

There are very few city services as important to keep functioning as our sewer system.  The city has just sent out the proposed new rates that will cover about $22 million of improvements at the Treatment Facility and $12 million of improvements to pipes and pumps.  The proposed rates are stratified by type of user and "based on a 3-year average of water use from bills between January - April."   The theory being that what-comes-in-must-go-out except for irrigation and that is minimized in the winter months.  The Single Family Residences & Duplexes rates per 1,000 gallons of water used are:

Current Rate                    2022 Proposed                    2023 Proposed                2024 Proposed

$12.25                                $13.58                                $14.91                            $16.25

Thus the increases off of today's baseline are:

                                            10.9%                                21.7%                              32.7% 

The city notice uses an example of a typical single-family home using 8,200 gallons every two months (that's the billing cycle).  Doing the math, that means an increase of $196.80 per year by 2024.  That is an average--your mileage may vary, but it appears to be a fait accompli since the means of protesting it are by writing to the city and seeing if "a majority of parcels" do the same.  Not gonna happen.  I'll bet a majority of the property owners didn't even open the mailer.  Keep all of this in mind as you do the laundry, shower and do whatever between January and April.

 

Comments

[resident]

If the rent control measure had passed in town would landlords have to eat this increase?

[[email protected]]

Seriously?
If you need an extra $25.00 a year, start a "Go Fund Me."

[resident]

You can always count on hollystroller to misread the numbers. Lay off the Two-buck Chuck and get your readers out.

[JP]

The whole picture is poop costs $600 a year now and will cost $800 a year in 3 years. Gas is $5 a gallon now and we will be lucky if it only costs $7 a gallon in three years.

[Adam Smith]

10 new condos here. 20 over there. 120 downtown. 200+90 on Ogden. Many more off Rollins. Pretty soon you need a bigger sewage plant and we all get to pay for it.

[Phinancier]

The Progressives talk on and on about privatizing profits and socializing cost. Well here you go. The city approves a bunch of development like they want. It adds a bunch of costs to the city (and sewers are far from the only costs) and then they socialize the costs. People do not recognize it even when it lands in their own mailbox.

[Paloma Ave]

Progressives, Socialists, Liberals ALWAYS have their hands in YOUR pockets, because they know best!

[Everything's Jake]

"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress dicovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money" Alexis de Toqueville

[Joe]

The deed is done per the DJ today:

The Burlingame City Council this week unanimously approved sewer rate increases for residents, with a 9% increase to take place each year for the next three years, beginning in 2022.

A Burlingame ratepayer paying the median sewage cost would see their total monthly cost increase by roughly $4.50 each year, for a total increase of $14.75 per month by 2024. Water rates will not increase.

“I would much rather pay $60 more [per year], that’s good value for making sure our sewers aren’t exploding and things are working properly,” said Councilmember Emily Beach.

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/burlingame-approves-sewer-rates-increase/article_babfede2-4b76-11ec-b0c1-df8e8e3e70c0.html?utm_source=smdailyjournal.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1637593205&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

[Joe]

We are going to stick with being billed every other month. The DJ is reporting:

Burlingame sewer and water bills will remain bimonthly, the City Council decided this week following a report that switching to monthly billing to mirror most other cities would cost ratepayers $60 annually on average.

He said that while the change was currently too expensive to justify, converting to monthly billing or “smart billing” — where ratepayers can track water use in real time — was something “to aspire to.”

Reading the city’s 10,000 meters already takes city staff roughly 440 hours yearly, Public Works Director Syed Murtuza said.

He said the city is currently working to secure a federal grant to aid in switching to smart billing, which would require replacing all the meters at a cost of $1.5 to $2 million.

“That will allow more instantaneous information, [and] that will have an app,” he said, adding that it would allow customers to see in real time water usage from something like flushing a toilet.

Residents, however, will see the sewer portion of the bill increase this month by 9%, and again by 9% in July for the following two years, per a previously approved rate schedule. Those paying the median cost would see their total monthly bills increase by roughly $4.50 this month, for a total increase of $14.75 by 2024. Water rates will not increase.

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/bimonthly-water-sewer-bills-remain-in-burlingame/article_64adbbe8-fe75-11ec-b515-f7fe257a91ac.html?utm_source=smdailyjournal.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1657288803&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

I love the idea of smart meters and smart billing with a usage app. Having had a couple of leaks over the years (the last one caused by the water main work on ECR) I would love to be able to watch the usage, set alarms for unusual usage, etc. In fact, I would be thrilled if we saved the money planned on a sea wall on the Bayfront and just did the smart meters.