Benicia City Council has extended its drought-related water surcharge, which it originally adopted on an emergency basis, by the city’s more conventional method of approving ordinance amendments.

The measure was approved unanimously as part of the Oct. 7 meeting’s consent calendar.

The decision is a continuation of actions that began July 22 when the Council announced its intent to impose the surcharge after a Proposition 218 public hearing.

That state proposition requires city employees to tell property owners of the hearing and explain how they could file any protests.

Only a handful of landowners objected to the surcharge, and the Council adopted the emergency ordinance Sept. 16 that redefined drought costs and imposed the surcharge to maintain the financial integrity of the Water Enterprise fund.

The Council then introduced the ordinance on a non-urgent basis so it could be decided through the city’s conventional, two-step process.

The temporary surcharge will remain in effect until drought-related costs are recovered and water supply conditions have stabilized, and the Council can set rates and end the temporary surcharge by resolution.

Earlier this year, the State Water Project (SWP) announced that Benicia would get none of the 17,000 acre-feet of water for which the city contracts annually because of the current severe drought that is the latest of three years below-normal rainfall. Beginning in September, the SWP decided contractors could receive 5 percent of their allotments.

Regardless of how much it receives, Benicia must pay for its right to the water. To compensate for the SWP’s decision, the Council has authorized up to $900,000 for water purchases.

Finance Director Karin Schnaider has said drought-related costs could reach as high as $2.58 million, including $134,000 for conservation projects, $264,000 for capital conservation projects and $999,117 for operating expenses as well as the water buys.

Because projects funded by Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee settlement agreement grants have reduced estimated costs $200,000, Benicia’s surcharges have been reduced since they were announced last July.

The Council agreed that per-unit surcharges would be 63 cents for Tier 1, 97 cents for Tier 2 and $1.25 for Tier 3 residential users; and 61 cents fir Tier 1 and 86 cents for Tier 2 non-residential customers.

A unit is 748 gallons of water, or as Schnaider described it, “about 50 bathtubs full.”

Residential Tier 1 customers use up to eight units of water each month. Tier 2 residential users consume eight to 30 units a month. Tier 3 residential users consume more than 30 units a month.

Low income older residents whose water bills are subsidized won’t experience any cost increase if they use no more than eight units a month, but if they exceed that limit, they’ll pay the same surcharge as other customers, Schnaider said.

Other types of customers will be assessed surcharges of 61 cents a unit for those in Tier 1, who use to no more than 30 units, and 86 cents for those who consume more.

By the same vote, the Council modified its contract with Climate Action Plan Coordinator Alex Porteshawver, who has accepted a position with the planning firm PMC, because its contract for the position has been with Sonoma State University. Porteshawver will remain Benicia’s CAP coordinator through June 30, 2015.

The Council also updated its own conflict of interest code and extended the declaration of a local emergency caused by the Aug. 24 South Napa earthquake that damaged a First Street building, water lines, sidewalks and wastewater treatment structures.

The panel also extended its labor agreement with the Benicia Firefighters Association through June 30, 2016.