City Manager Lorie Tinfow. (Courtesy photo)
In response to concerns by residents over sewer and water rate increases over the past week, City Manager Lorie Tinfow posted a message on the city of Benicia website to clarify the reasons why.
In 2012, the Benicia City Council voted to approve water and sewer rate increases after a six-year hold, partly due to aging infrastructures and restrictive water and wastewater regulations that Benicia needed to comply with. At the time, the current monthly sewer rate for an average household was $41.33 and was expected to rise to $56.49 in 2017. In April of 2016, the council halted the rate increases but reopened them in August with the intent of the increases being adjusted each year starting with July 1 , 2017 through the 2020-21 fiscal year.
Tinfow noted that city staff had been receiving emails and phone calls from residents concerned about paying higher rates for water and wastewater than usual and from utility customers inquiring about a meter fee on their most recent statements. Tinfow used her post to try and answer some of the most commonly asked questions regarding the rate increases.
One of the most frequent questions from residents was simply over why their rates went up. Tinfow cited three main reasons. One was that overall water usage was up, as more people tend to use water in the summer months than the winter months, especially with the drought restrictions being lifted.
Another reason, Tinfow posited, was due to the new water meters having greater accuracy in measuring water usage.
“Previously, there was a 26 percent difference between the amount of water leaving the Water Treatment Plant and the amount measured on our water meters,” Tinfow wrote. “With the installation of the new meters, the amount of water being delivered to users will be more accurately measured.”
As a result, Tinfow noted that better measurements could potentially result in higher charges on a resident’s water bill.
The third and final reason that Tinfow cited was due to a changing rate structure for residential users on Nov. 1, 2016 and July 1. Prior to Nov. 1, the city was using a tiered pricing charge model, where the pricing changes as volume increases, and the usage was priced according to the tiers, which were removed after November.
“One unit of water is equal to 748 gallons,” Tinfow wrote. “So for the first 11,968 gallons of water used, the cost has more than doubled. The tiers were not shown on the bills so you may not have realized they were part of the billing structure.”
“My understanding is that during the Great Recession, the rates were kept low while water and sewer operations and infrastructure needs continued to grow,” she added. “We reached a point where additional funds were required to keep the systems functioning and that required these and future rate increases.”
Tinfow also addressed the question of a “maintenance charge” that appeared on residents’ bills. She noted it was the fixed cost needed to maintain the systems, due to many pipelines being installed in the 20th century and some even going back to the 19th century. Tinfow said the systems include 150 miles of water pipeline to deliver 1.5 billion gallons of drinking water each year and another 150 miles of sewer pipeline to deliver 800 million gallons of sewage before it is discharged into the bay. The maintenance charge includes funds for $3.6 million to be used for water capital projects and $7 million in sewer capital projects, both to be utilized over the next five years.
“While the costs may seem high, the funds are an investment in the longer-term sustainability of our water and sewer systems,” Tinfow wrote.
Tinfow closed by providing additional sources of information, including a water and sewer rates page on the city’s website at http://www.ci.benicia.ca.us/watersewerrates. Residents may also contact Tinfow at 746-4200, Graham Wadsworth or Christian Di Renzo, the respective director and assistant director in the Public Works Department, at 746-4240. Additionally, a water update will be provided at the Tuesday, Aug. 15 council meeting.
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No justification was made with this article. In order to properly justify the rate increases, the city council and manager need to do a comparative analysis in order to sell this $500 to $1000 annual increase per household.
1). Compare and contrast the per unit cost of water consumption with 5 neighboring cities. Why WAS Benicia’s rate so high several years ago, and why are they going extremely higher?
2). Our previous water bills were high. Why did we not fund the needed repairs years ago? Why do we now have even more excessive rates? If Benicia had low rates, historically, then we could understand higher rates. But our bills have always been high and now they are obscene. Let’s start the analysis at a true starting point.
3). Where does the money go? What budget or account? The General Fund? If so, I smell the bait and switch.
This article shows the manager as stating “you have always had high water rates but we never used the money for maintenance. So now we have a problem. We now must raise your rates even higher to make up for our past mismanagement.”
Madam, I am a wise water user. I conserve. But my new rates will amount to $2400 annually for … water!! Obscene. We will push back.
Matter you are correct. The City Manger stepped into a situation that was not her doing. Yes as City Manager she does have that responsibility. But she also must answer to her boss’. The Mayor/city council. At present I do believe there are two votes to put this item on an agenda fore further review. One more needed. Who will it be? City staff will have to respond. City staff in at least the dept. that handles this is justifying the outlandish rate increases. Any future candidate for council that backs these increases will go down to defeat. This is now a very political issue. Any candidate that the mayor endorses is over and out on this issue and the fee increases. Time for new blood on this council. .;
On your 3 questions:
1) when they did the rate analysis and increase, City staff did compare to others. I don’t recall the exact figures but Benicia is about in the middle as I recall, maybe somewhat above the median.
2) The City went a number of years with no rate increases. This was very bad policy, as costs were rising while consumption was dropping in the 2 droughts (2007-2010, 2012-2016). So instead of small increments each year, they did a big one after it was too late to keep up with costs. In part, this was done to avoid removing the “Senior Discount” which courts ruled to be illegal under Prop 218; that ruling meant the discount had to be phased out as soon as rates were touched, so for many years they were not touched.
3) Your water and sewer bills go to a separate fund (these are enterprise funds not general funds). That said, the enterprises (Water and Wastewater) pay into the City General Fund for services: the City Finance Dept. does the bills and collections, HR does the hiring, etc.. So they are not 100% separated. Antioch recently got sued by a customer because Antioch was charging the water and wastewater funds for a number of police officers for “security”. When confronted, Antioch could not show the need for so many officers exclusively for water and wastewater security, and removed most of that charge. One does need to keep an eye on these things….
Greg you are correct. But the enterprise funds do pay for the 9 mil fund. If they do not meet the funds needed the rates go up. Yes that sounds good. But the city council can delay the projects from five years to 15/20 years and also go back to tiered charges. Sounds simple. It is. 50 years of bad management should not be charged over five years. The present rate payers do need help. I do hope the city puts it on the agenda and revises the rates and the time line. It can be done. Any council member that is against the fine residents of this city will never be elected again.;
I do not believe and categorically deny that Benicia is in the middle of the pack on unit and usage rates. I have bills from Vallejo, Martinez, Concord and Walnut Creek that show per unit costs at less than $1.00 per unit or just over. Benicia is now $4.17 per unit. Average water bills in surrounding cities for similar sized homes range from $50 to as high as $90 per month. Benicia is now $200 per month.
Good comment Matter. Show up at the council meeting tonight and speak out. Your voice is important. Thank you.
Benicia Happenings is not very kind to the mayor. Show up at the council meeting tonight and get in her face. She will lose her cool.
You should check your numbers.
CCWD serves Concord and Walnut Creek, and they charge 3.91/HCF (elevation charge is extra and starts at 0.08/HCF).
http://www.ccwater.com/558/Water-Supply-Rates
Martinez rates start at 4.09/HCF
http://www.cityofmartinez.org/depts/admin/finance/water.asp
Vallejo is now at 3.40/HCF for the first 22HCF, 6.38/HCF over 22
http://www.cityofvallejo.net/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=7227928
Bay Point (Golden State) doesn’t make it easy, you have to read the PUC decision and then calculate (p.601 of 697) to get 5.16/HCF
http://www.gswater.com/download/2016-2018-GRC-3-2-17.pdf
Pittsburg is 3.56 for the first 14 then 5.27/HCF thereafter.
EBMUD also serves a part of Walnut Creek. they range from 3.45 to 6.27/HCF.
These are all the per unit used charges for water (not sewer). They do not include the monthly charge (Benicia is 30 for 2 months, CCWD is $35 for 2 months, Martinez is 30, Vallejo is 39, EBMUD is 45.)
$200 per month for water is a whopping big bill so if that is your water bill, that is huge, but it also means you are using about 450 gpd way over average. Check the online service if you have a new smart meter, you might have a leak, and it will tell you if you do. Check your usage, if it went way up after the meter change, your old one was under-recording and you were not paying for all the water used. If that $200 is water and sewer, then take off the sewer part to compare with the water numbers above.
At any rate, I could not find any agency around here charging $1 per HCF. All seem to be in the same range as Benicia.
Sorry, if your bill is $200 per 2 months it is 450 gpd. If that is $200 for ONE month, then you are almost 900 gpd. That is really huge.
These are all usage fees which are a portion of the bill. We have additional fees for consumption and maintenance. Let’s compare real average bill amounts. Martinez residents bill sizes are half Benicia. Yes, some maintenance fees are rolled into property taxes, but they are $40 per month as average. Ours rise above that mark. Say what you will, but the average bill is $150 to $200 per month.
Benicia’s use from the agenda item was 3681 acre-feet last year. If 100% of that was for households (it wasn’t, so this is an OVERESTIMATE) at today’s rates that averages $85/month. Yours is $200 because you use far more than average.
According to Martinez’s UWMP. they have about the same number of residential connections as Benicia, but use 2/3 as much water. Based on their water use, their bills average $54/month NOT BECAUSE RATES ARE LOWER, but because they use LESS water.
The fact is, the rates in Martinez are the same or higher than Benicia’s. They use less and pay less.
The bill is rate X use + fixed costs.
Simple math will tell you that if you have a $200/month water bill, you are using almost 900 gpd, which is almost 3 times the Benicia average.
The bottom line on all these fee and cost increases – this is only the beginning and it is only going to get worse. The budget forecast for Benicia showed that Benicia is facing severe budget deficits going forward. Asking for a 13.6% increase in the sales tax was the initial attempt to solve this problem. Passing a dramatic increase in the water and sewer fees is a second step. (As a side note, if I read the sewer fees correctly, we pay a fee on all water used even though any water used for landscaping never goes through the treatment plant). The next step will be a threatened reduction is city services, such as police and fire personnel, fewer library hours, fewer services across the board. What is NOT being addressed in Benicia, or any other city in California, is the increase in the contributions from cities and counties to cover health care and retirement costs. CALPERS has never had a realistic projection of future growth despite near unanimous statement from economists that their project rate of return will never be obtained. When those projections are not met they are passed on to the cities and counties who in turn look for ways to raise revenue, i.e. taxes.
This fee increase and others to come are only a symptom of the issues and problems. Get ready, there are many more to come.
I was on CalPers all along. Very aware of it. Unless you have a separate feed of water to your house you use the same water that you drink to water your yard. You are now starting to see the Socialist Progressives at work. Mainly the Mayor and her side kick councilmember Young. You elected them. Now is your chance in 2016 to vote in new blood. Can we do ,it. We shall see. Have not done it the recent past.
Bob, my comment regarding the water used in landscaping must have been a little confusing. Of course all water comes from the water treatment plant, but I was referring to the sewage treatment plant. If I understand everything I have read to date, and believe me the city has not done a good job of explaining this increase to date, my sewer fees are based on all water used, but not all water used goes through the sewage treatment plant.
Some does go to Valero and they treat it themselves. Many councilmembers are not clear either. You are not alone. Call Gram Wadsworth to get a full explanation. I urge all residents to call Gram on this issue. He is on vacation and will not be at the council meeting. Good time to get out of town.; Gram is a very good man it is not intentional. We all must remember all orders come from the council to the City Manager to staff for recommendations.; Many are ignored by city council. City Manager and City Attorney are hired and fired by the council. City Manager hires all city staff and cannot be over ridden. But if you report to the city council we all know how that works. It is time to move on turning over this council. I will never vote for a council candidate that is backed by the mayor. Not a good move. Just my opinion on politics in Benicia. I still have very high hopes for this city and think we have a very fine city staff. New council members can get the city on the right track. I will not give in to the Socialist movement in town.
I agree that expenditures to fund employee benefits are a problem and need addressing. However, there is also the revenue side of the ledger. What can the city do to increase revenues so we can grow our way out of the situation?
Would a Valero expansion help? Infrastructure support for the industrial park may encourage new businesses to relocate. Unfortunately, the mayor and Council member Young are opposed to business expansions. They even appear hostile to helping First Street businesses expand!
I agree that this council needs changing. At least three members believe the only revenue sources must come from residences in the form of taxes and fees. I think they are going to get an ear full Tuesday at the meeting.
Ear full for sure. What you have in Benicia is small groups of folks that are very well organized to push the Socialist agenda of the Enviro Greenies. They are very anti big business of any kind. Expand Valero will never happen. What needs to happen is as you say Economic Development. That is being stopped by the mayor who wants only very green business park. That is not revenue producing. So what needs to be done is play their game. Go after a developer to develop the Seeno property with three hybrid and electric car agency’s. That is real money. This group does not understand the real financial issue Benicia is in. They will protect the water fees, back the fee increase and vote for cannabis retail sales. On cannabis sales they have no idea what revenue it will bring in. But the word money rings a bell without even thinking of the unintended consequences. If this town is not carful it will be just a very nice place to live with nice parks, library, swimming pool with no revenue to support the services. Just watch as the money dry’s up. The city will now want to outsource the Fire Dept, Police Dept, Library, City Attorney, water treatment plant and maybe even more. You then lose the identity of this fine community. If the residents/voters do not stand up and demand Economic Development we are going down the tube fast. All measure C money will go to keep the lights on and when that runs out there go the services. This has been happening for over 10 years.. This Mayor and her buddy councilmember Young are clueless when it comes to finances. There will be no grant money, state or federal money. Just hope and a pray that cannabis brings in more than glamour but lots of money. It will not. Come to the council meeting and jump all over the mayor and any councilmember that needs a hot iron prod to wake them up. Good luck.
Part of the sewer charge is fixed, and part is based on winter-time use, as I understand it, That is the standard practice anyway, and it eliminates landscape use that should be pretty much zero in the winter (if it isn’t, turn your sprinklers off, you don’t need them in winter).
For many people, a substantial fraction of the increase will be from having their old meter changed out: the City as a whole had about 20 to 25% Unaccounted for Water. Old meters will under-read by a lot. The new meters will correct that. So if your old meter was under-recording by 25%, your bill will be a shock as now you are paying for all the water you are using, not 75% of it.
The new meters will tell you if you have a possible leak. Go look at your account online. It found one on my house (very low level that the old meter was probably missing). I fixed it, and with that fix, my bill is pretty much the same as before (except for the new meter charge): But then, I am using a lot less water than before the drought.
That is good. But the non tier water rates are the problem. Also the five years infrastructure issue should go out to at least fifteen years. After all we did wait 50 years do something. So what is another 15 years. Go back to the tiered rates and the city should stop telling folks to conserve. When the residents conserve the rates will go up because of lack of revenue. The council has the ability to ,change the rates. Just need one more vote.