CSD’s Response to Written Objections and Protests (2025-05-14) Exhibit B
Exhibit B
1-1: Objection: Camarillo’s flat rate and minimum charge utility billing proposal.
Proposition 218 requires that fees be proportionate to benefit.
Response: The proposed fixed rates for residential customers are proportionate to the service provided to each customer (or customer class). Rates were derived by a cost of service (COS) analysis which yields cost-based rates at the class and intra-class level (intra-class being the Residential sub-classifications and the non- residential meter sizes and strength categorization).
2-1: Objection: Residential rates are fixed and not based on how much sewage a residence sends for treatment
Response: The proposed fixed rates for residential customers are proportionate to the service provided to each customer (or customer class). Rates were derived by a cost of service analysis which yields cost-based rates at the class and intra-class level (intra-class being the Residential sub-classifications and the non-residential meter sizes and strength categorization).
2-2: Objection: Small users subsidize big users
Response: The proposed rates are proportional to size insofar as they are within the same class, or sub-class for Residential users, which is a strong proxy for wastewater generation. CSD and their consultants use available data, observations from the community and elsewhere, and informed decision-making to estimate the cost responsibility of each class, and sub-class, based on a robust cost of service analysis.
It's important to note that wastewater is not metered and CSD does not have metered water data for customers served by neighboring agencies (this data was acquired for the last COS but it is not something readily available to CSD staff). 2-3: Objection: City has not shown that the amount of a contested assessment is proportional to and not greater than the benefits conferred on properties with lower sewer use
Response: This objection mistakenly applies the legal standard for an “assessment” under California Constitution Article XIII D, Section 4. However, since the sewer rates are not an “assessment” that legal standard does not apply.
Rather, the legal standard for sewer rates, as a “property related fee” is California Constitution Article XIII D, Section 6, as set forth in the Rate Study at page 2, and as explained in the body of the Rate Study.
2-4: Objection: Prop 218 (California Constitution XIII D) requires that no assessment shall be imposed on any parcel which exceeds the reasonable cost of the proportional special benefit conferred on that parcel and that the burden shall be on the agency to demonstrate that the amount of the contested assessment is proportional to and not greater than the benefits conferred on properties
Response: See 2-3.
CSD’s Response to Written Objections and Protests (2025-05-14) Exhibit B
2-5: Objection: Any court case against the rates will be decided on the evidence submitted to the City, not new evidence
Response: CSD is aware that Government Code 53759.2 limits the evidence that may be used in any legal challenge of the sewer rates.
2-6: Objection: Camarillo charges business based on use and it’s fair to charge homes the same way
Response: 1. Household sizes tend to be similar by sub-category (i.e. Single- Family Residential (SFR), Multi-Family Residential (MFR), mobile home/age restricted) and those are used to derive cost differentials between classes in a cost of service analysis. 2. Within a class (e.g., SFR) using more or less water does not necessarily translate into more/less use of sewer facilities. Additionally, residential water use does not necessarily equal wastewater generation. 3. Residential wastewater use is generally consistent throughout the year: contributions per household do not change in July versus January unlike residential water service which has seasonal effects due to irrigation demands. 4. The wastewater system is almost entirely fixed cost. The costs that vary relate almost entirely to power and chemicals for any lift required in the collection system and then at the treatment facilities. The system (collection and treatment) must be operated, maintained, repaired, and replaced largely disconnected from the volume of wastewater generated. For these reasons, service charges by Residential classification are cost-justified and proportional to the cost of providing service. It is also largely why most agencies (>70%) maintain service charges (i.e. fixed rates) for Residential users.
2-7: Objection: Some agencies have landscape meters to keep irrigation off the main meter
Response: See response 2-6 above and the COS section as part of the 2017 CSD Cost of Service Study, particularly the Mass Balance and cost apportionment by class, and sub-class.
2-8: Objection: Camarillo has not met its burden of showing that the amount of the assessment is proportional to and no greater than the benefits conferred on properties with low sewer use nor why it is proportional to vary business charges with use and not vary residential charges with use.
Response: See 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, and 2-6.
2-9: Objection: Other agencies vary charges based on usage for both water and sewer including: Oxnard, Ventura (City), Santa Barbara (City), San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles (City), San Diego (City), and San Francisco
Response: See 2-1, 2-2, and 2-6.
2-10: Objection: Camarillo’s 2025 sewer rate study adds inflation to past rates at a16% each year to cover bonds for a new treatment plant
CSD’s Response to Written Objections and Protests (2025-05-14) Exhibit B
Response: This is a two-step: 1. responses above describe how the rates themselves (between and within classes) do not exceed the proportionate cost of service and 2. this year's financial plan identified in the Rate Study demonstrates the need for revenue increases for recovering the CSD's full cost of service, now and in the future.
2-11: Objection: The 2017 rate study did not explain why the City should not set rates by use as it does for non-residential, and as the same consultant recommended for the City of Ventura in 2022.
Response: The 2017 study does set rates (differentiates) by use (i.e. estimated sewer flow contributions) at the class and sub-class level for several categories of Residential users, non-residential meter sizes, and non-residential strength categories. Non-Residential sewer users have disparate flows and wastewater strengths based on their business use(s). Agencies choose specific rate structures for a variety of reasons and only after weighing considerations like cost structure, data availability, policy objectives, and other factors against the existing structure.
The rate structure mentioned for the City of Ventura was in effect well before the most recent rate study for that City.
The methodology and underlying data used in the 2017 rate study remain valid.
Cost structure changes will come with the addition/upgrades at the Water Reclamation Plant (WRP), at which time it will be appropriate for CSD to conduct a new cost of service analysis to reflect the new cost structure between a) collection and treatment, b) within the treatment facilities (i.e., flow, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), disposal), and c) the apportionment of costs between distinct user groups with updated data (including forthcoming CA Statewide updated flow and loading study by the California Association of Sewer Agencies (CASA).
2-12: Objection: Cotati City says efficient homes use 25-30 gallons per day and Denver recommends 40.
Response: This objection mistakenly equates gallons per capita per day (gpcd) with gallons per day (gpd). The current efficient indoor water use standard in the State of California is 47 gpcd (i.e., 47 gallons per person). With an average SFR household size of approximately three people, that equates to roughly 140 gpd per Residential user.
In observations from other water and sewer providers, the most efficient indoor use of a community observed is in the 35-40 gpcd range. 2-13: Objection: Camarillo’s plan will charge some businesses $6.32 HCF plus a base charge. Proportional rates would bill each family $6.32/HCF plus a base charge. The base would be $43 to raise the same money as the proposed flat rate Response: A cost of service analysis considers units of service across many categories including flow, strength, billing units, etc. to determine unit rates and the cost responsibility of a class. Rates then recover the cost of providing service at CSD’s Response to Written Objections and Protests (2025-05-14) Exhibit B
the class level. In a hypothetical where Residential and Non-Residential users had the same rate structure, the base (i.e. fixed component) and the variable (i.e. flow component) would not be the same due to both the manner of cost recovery and the relative costs attributable to each.
2-14: Objection: For sewer customers where Camarillo does not provide water, the City can ask the water provider for usage. If the City doesn’t get water use data, they can:
(a) ask the customer to provide a water bill, (b) charge for high usage if they don’t, and (c) every year or two check the meter and reconcile charges Response: See 2-1, 2-6, 2-11, and 2-16. This requirement would put an undue burden on the CSD and impose higher costs for billing, collections, and customer service. It also assumes that neighboring providers would, and CSD’s billing system could, acquire monthly billing data from several entities that are not required to share data with the CSD.
2-15: Objection: In 2013 John Bakker, a city attorney for two cities, gave a presentation to the League of California Cities and recommended, “Avoid flat rate and minimum charges unless the use-based justification is explained in detail.
Response: See 2-1, 2-6, and 2-11.
2-16: Objection: Camarillo’s 2017 sewer rate study in 2017 cites the manual Financing and Charges for Wastewater for their methodology but the 2005 and 2018 versions of that book say that it’s common practice to use metered water data to estimate customer-contributed residential wastewater volume
Response: For many reasons listed in response 2-6, service charges by Residential classification are cost-justified and proportional to the cost of providing service. It is also largely why most agencies (>70%) maintain service charges (i.e. fixed rates) for Residential users.
The 2017 cost of service does rely on “metered water use data to estimate customer-contributed residential wastewater volume.” Those volumes are then recovered from several distinct Residential sub-classifications. The objection misinterprets/misconstrues the difference between identifying costs and recovering costs.