PROPOSED SEWER SERVICE CHARGES
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that at 7:00 PM on April 11, 2022, in the Council Chambers located at 2212 Beach Boulevard, Pacifica, CA 94044, the City Council of the City of Pacifica (“City”) will hold a public hearing to consider revisions to its sewer service charges that will be effective beginning fiscal year 2022-2023. The City anticipates that the public hearing will be conducted in-person at Council Chambers at the address listed above. However, if the City Council has not resumed in-person meetings due to conditions relating to COVID-19, then the hearing will be conducted via teleconference. Anyone wishing to attend the hearing should confirm the location by reviewing the Agenda for the April 11, 2022 Council meeting, which shall be published 72 hours prior to the meeting.
If approved, you will see the sewer service charges appear at the new rate on your property tax bills issued later in 2022. The sewer service charge is a usage fee, charged for ongoing sewer services, and is placed on the property tax bills annually and collected by the County Controller’s Office.
The City imposes its sewer service charges to fund the City’s costs of operating and maintaining the sewer collection and sewage treatment systems, as well as to pay debt service used to finance the construction of that system. Sewer service charge proceeds may not be used by the City for any other purpose. The proposed revisions to the sewer service charges were calculated to ensure that all sewer users are paying rates that are proportionate to the each user’s costs of service. The proposed rate revisions and calculation methodology that will be considered by the City Council (described briefly below) are based on a wastewater rate study (“Study”) conducted by Bartle Wells Associates (“BWA”). The Study is available on the City’s website (https://www.cityofpacifica.org/depts/pw/wwt/wastewater_rate_study.asp)
YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO GET INVOLVED
You are invited to present oral or written testimony to the City Council at the public hearing on April 11, 2022. You may also present the City Clerk with a written protest against the proposed charges, either in person or by mail, prior to the close of the public hearing. A written protest must (1) identify the affected property either by address, Assessor’s Parcel Number, or customer account number; (2) include the original signature and name of the record owner or customer submitting the protest; and (3) indicate opposition to the proposed sewer rates. Only protests received by mail or in person prior to the close of the public hearing will be counted. If written protests against the proposed charges are presented by a majority of parcels subject to the charges, then the City Council will not impose the proposed charges.
You are hereby notified, pursuant to Government Code, section 53759, that any judicial action or proceeding to attack, review, set aside, void, validate, or annul the City Council’s adoption of the proposed sewer rates must be commenced within 120 days of the effective date or of the date of the final passage, adoption, or approval of the ordinance or resolution adopting the sewer rates.
CITY OF PACIFICA
170 Santa Maria Avenue • Pacifica, California 94044-2506 www.cityofpacifica.org
City of Pacifica
Notice of Public Hearing
MAYOR
Mary Bier
MAYOR PRO TEM
Tygarjas Bigstyck
COUNCIL
Sue Beckmeyer
Mike O’Neill
Scenic Pacifica Sue Vaterlaus
Incorporated Nov. 22, 1957
ATTACHMENT 6
SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHARGES
Current
Maximum Proposed Rate
2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 2026-27
Percent Increase 3.5% 3.5% 3.5% 3.5% 3.5%
Rate* $18.81373 $19.47221 $20.15374 $20.85912 $21.58919 $18.81373 Minimum Annual Rate $903.06 $934.67 $967.38 $1,001.24 $1,036.28 $1,072.55 *Rate per 100 cubic feet of estimated water consumption.
The proposed sewer rate increases are necessary to address the City’s increased capital improvement and operating costs, including, without limitation, The sewer service rates are based on water consumption.
The formula used by the City for residential customers is designed to exclude water consumption that does not involve the sewer system, such as light landscaping. Most non-residential customers are charged using their actual annual water consumption because they typically have lower outdoor/non-sewer water use.
The calculation for the proposed sewer rates is based on the analysis set forth in the BWA Study.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Method for Estimating Consumption. Generally, the water consumption estimate for a user shall be that user’s total water consumption for the six (6) bi-monthly water billing periods ending with the billing period for February of the calendar year during which the charges will be levied. This twelve (12) month period is known as the “billing year.”
Residential Users. The proposed method for estimating water consumption for single-family and multifamily residences is to multiply total water consumption during the billing year by 90% (0.90). This proposed method would replace the current method of using the wet months as a factor in the residential calculation.
Users with substantial irrigation requirements. Any nonresidential user with substantial irrigation requirements may be able to apply to have his or her flow estimate recalculated based on criterion in City Municipal Code Section 6-6.407. Applications submitted will be subject to the procedures and requirements set forth in the City’s Municipal Code.
Users with multiple meters. If a user has more than one water meter at a service location, and one or more of those meters measures only water used for landscaping purposes, the meter usage for landscaping purposes will be excluded.
Schools with mixed water use. Schools with mixed water use (drinking water and irrigation) may applyto have their flow estimate calculated as six (6) times the average consumption of the following bimonthly periods: (i) March and April, (ii) May and June, (iii) ½ billed during November and December, and (iv) January and February.
Strength Multipliers.
Estimated water consumption of certain non-residential sewer users, such as restaurants, laundromats and car washes, is multiplied by a “strength multiplier” that takes into account additional costs associated with certain types of effluent.
Car Washes, 0.9 Gymnasiums, 0.9 Restaurants w/o functioning grease traps, 1.8 Cleaners, 1.2 Laundromats, 0.75 Restaurants with functioning grease traps, 1.6 All Others, 1.0 If you have any questions about the proposed rates, or would like to review the BWA rate study,please feel free to contact Maria Aguilar at (650) 738-4660 or https://www.cityofpacifica.org/depts/pw/wwt/wastewater_rate_study.asp