DEPARTMENT OF UTILITIES
STORM DRAINAGE BALLOT ELECTION
City Council Meeting
February 1, 2022
Ballot Election Recommendation
2 Pass a Motion authorizing a ballot election for a new Storm Drainage property related fee
Storm Drainage System
3 4
Drainage Basins
137 Drainage Basins
82 Detention Basins
Major Drainage Assets
105 pump stations
842 miles of pipeline
100 miles of levees
76 miles of streams and
channels
5 Major Combined Sewer System Assets
Sump 1
Sump 2
CWTP
Pioneer Reservoir
4 storage vaults
282 miles of pipe
6 Storm Drainage Resources
123 Employees
107 Vehicles
43 Generators
7 Levels of Service
8 100-year storm10-year storm
9 Aging infrastructure
$236 million
backlog of
projects
High risk of flood
Levees
Pump Stations
Flood Fighting
System Risks
System Risks
Risks to source water
quality
Lack of CIP Funding
10 May 12, 2020 City Auditor Findings
The CityAuditor’s review found several key points, including:
There are insufficient storm drainage revenues to invest properly in the City’s stormwater system, which is valued at $8.1 billion. A recommended enhanced Capital Improvement investment of $34 million annually would immediately exhaust all available cash reserves without implementing fee increases.
Findings were not unexpected – no increase since 1996
11 Storm Drainage Funding Measure
12 Protect drinking source water quality and supplies, Reduce combined sewage overflowing onto streets
Replace aging and deteriorating pumps
Repair aging pipelines
Maintain streams and channels
1300 jobs over 10 years
Will provide $20 million annually
Proposed Fee Methodology
13 Different Customer Classes
Residential - 3 Tiers of Single Family and Multifamily Non-Residential (Commercial, Industrial, etc.)
Impervious Surface Coefficient (ISC) for each class
All rates based on $0.01975 per Net SqFt/yr
Residential Proposed Fee Amounts
14 Customer Tier Residential Property Density Monthly Fee Single Family #1 Parcel Gross Area less than 1/10 acre $3.13 Single Family #2 Parcel Gross Area between 1/10 acre & 1/4 acre $5.94 Single Family #3 Parcel Gross Area greater than 1/4 acre $10.78 Multi-Family #1 High Density 50+ Units per Acre $0.67 per unit Multi-Family #2 Medium Density 11-50 Units per Acre $2.41 per unit Multi-Family #3 Low Density 1-10 Units per Acre $5.84 per unit
Non-Residential Proposed Fee Amounts
15 Non-Residential Property Type* ISC
Agriculture 0.04
Public & Utilities 0.44
Industrial/Retail/Commercial 0.86
Office/Recreational/Church & Welfare/Personal Care & Health 0.80 Airport 0.30
Common Areas 0.30
Golf; Park; Cemetery; Miscellaneous; Vacant 0.10
Exempt 0.00
*$0.01975 per gross square foot x ISC (Impervious surface coefficient) annually Example: Commercial building on a 53,000 gross square foot parcel Proposed Fee is $0.01975 X 53,000 X 0.86 = $900 annually ($75 monthly) Sacramento Utility Rate Assistance (SURA)
16 8,500 participants
$3.78M annual budget
Discounted rates for water,
wastewater, and recycling and
solid waste services
17 30%
36%
12%
20%
2%
Definitely yes
Probably yes
Probably no
Definitely no
Undecided
Total
Yes
66%
Total
No
32%
Property Owner Survey Results
If there were an election today, do you think you would vote “yes” in favor of this measure or “no” to oppose it?
In April 2021, 54% of Single-Family Resident ratepayers indicated they would vote “yes” on this proposal in a dual-mode (phone and online) survey.
DOU Informational Outreach
18 Prop. 218 protest mailers
Meetings with business, labor, community group
6 Live Webinars Dec 2021 - Jan 2022
Email invitations
Social media content
Full page ad in Inside Sacramento
Digital ads
Article on citywide blog
Posts on Nextdoor
Multi-Language Outreach
19 Worked with the City's Community
Engagement Manager on multi-
language outreach
Outreach items offered in Spanish,
Russian, Traditional and Simplified
Chinese:
218 Informational Mailer
Fact Sheet
Frequently Asked Questions
20 Proposition 218 Protest Mailer
Mailed to current DOU customers in December 2021
Mailed to non-DOU customers subject to the new fees (about 2% of property owners) in January 2022
Proposed fee amounts
Protest Hearing date
Written protests by US Mail or hand delivery
50%+ protests to stop process
Committee/Commission Public Meetings
21 City of Sacramento Water Committee
Four updates
◼ April - November 2021
Utilities Rate Advisory Commission
Two updates
Four Rate Workshops
Rate Hearing
◼ May - November 2021
Helped improve the fee methodology
22 Proposition 218 Protest Results by Reason
Proposed Storm Water Fee Protest Summary
Results For Protests Received Through 1/25/22
Total Notices Mailed 154,123
- No Specific Comment 241 <1%
- Increase is Excessive or Unjustified 68 <1%
- Causes a Financial Hardship 30 <1%
- Reduce level of service to offset cost 13 <1%
- Quality/Level of service does not warrant increase 32 <1% Total Written Protests Received 384 <1%
23 Proposition 218 Protest Results by District
Protests by Council District
District Protests Parcels
1 25 18,062
2 35 15,863
3 38 15,434
4 54 19,019
5 42 18,490
6 40 20,270
7 92 24,201
8 52 16,881
Unincorporated 1 1,558
Total 379 149,778
Note- The total notices mailed, protests, and parcels listed above vary due to mapping processes that remove duplicate APNs and zero addresses
24 Public Rate Hearing
Public Rate Hearing conducted on January 26, 2022
218 Protest Mailer results
Three members of the public provided comments
The URAC recommended forwarding this item to Council for approval to authorize the ballot election
January 26, 2022 URAC Meeting - Rate Hearing
February 1, 2022 City Council Meeting – Seek Ballot Election Authorization
February 9, 2022 Ballot Election Begins
March 16, 2022 Ballot Election Ends
April 2022 City Council Meeting - Adopt Rate
April - June 2022 Billing System Configuration
July 1, 2022 New property fee implemented
25 Storm Drainage Ballot Election Schedule
THANK YOU