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Home My WebLink About1996-12-10; City Council; 13952; Sewer fees on residentially zoned propertyu h Li 0 a k a, a a, 42 u $ U .rl a El (d a, U N g (d E N 0 w b a, a rl 4 w .rl 3 w (d u Ul L.0 m \ 0 rl \ c\l -I TITLE: AB# j3.9 53. CITIZEN REQUEST REGARDING DEPT. HD. CITY ATTY MTG. fallo/./h DEPT. CM CITY MGR. SEWER FEES ON RESIDENTIALLY ZONED PROPERTY RECOMMENDED ACTION: Receive report regarding current sewer fees on residentially zoned properties. ITEM EXPLANATION: The City Manager has received a request from Mr. James R. Swab to place an item 1 Council Agenda regarding the sewer fees placed on residential property. It is the Cit policy to provide an opportunity for citizens to place items on an agenda by submitti to the City Manager ten days prior to the meeting. Due to the Thanksgiving H December 10, 1996 Meeting was the earliest meeting available to accommodate thi The presentation time is limited to ten minutes. FISCAL IMPACT None at this time. EXHIBITS 1. Letter to the City Manager dated November 19, 1996 2. Letter to Mr. Swab dated November 26, 1996 3. Memo to the City Council from Carlsbad Municipal Water District November 25, IC November 25, 1996 EXHIBIT #1 a .. -- - - - ._ - ._ -- 0 e November 26, 1996 Mr. James R. Swab 3640 Adams St. Carlsbad, CA 92008 Dear Mr. Swab: At the November 19, 1996 City Council meeting you submitted a letter to the City Manager requesting an item be placed on a future City Council meeting agenda regarding sewer fees on residentially zoned property. Per the City Council's policy this item has been docketed for-the December 10, 1996 City Council meeting. A copy of the staff report along with a City Council agenda for the December 10, 1996 meeting will be sent to you once the agenda has been finalized. Please contact me at 434-281 9 should you have any questions. Sincerely, - - - \ -f$&% - LORI LIEBERMAN Assistant to the City Manager - c. City Manager Assistant City Manager CMWD General Manager - - - 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive - Carlsbad, CA 92008-1 989 (61 9) 434-2821 - FAX (61 9) 720-946 TAniui I 8. a e \ November 25, 1996 TO: MAYOR CITY COUNCIL VIA: Assistant City Manager FROM: General Manager SEWER SERVICE CHARGES ON PROPERTY OWNED BY JAMES R. SWAB At its meeting of November 19, 1996, the City Council received comments from Mr. James R. Swab regarding his concern of the City’s revised calculations for monthly sewer service charges. Mr. Swab is the owner of multi-family residential property that has three dwelling units served by a single water meter, He feels that the sewer service charges on his property are excessive and unfair. The District’s current system for calculating sewer service charges was implemented as part of a set of recommendations that are contained in the Water and Wastewater Kate Study that was adopted by the City Council on June 4, 1996. This Study was prepared with the assistance of a Citizens Review Committee along with City staff and a financial consultant. Based on input from multi-family property owners, the Committee felt that calculating sewer service charges based on the amount of water used each month instead of a flat rate ($1 5.00 per dwelling unit, whether or not occupied) will be more fair and equitable to all sewer service customers. Since Mr. Swab has a single water meter, some of the flows going through his meter probably goes for irrigation use which does not end up in the sewer system. If this is cas€ sewer charges may be inappropriately high. Usually when this situation occurs, we offer the customer an option of having City staff separate the customer’s water system and add another meter for irrigation use only. This would reduce the flow through the original meter that we would charge for sewer services. After receiving his first utility bill with the new “flow-based” calculation, Mr. Swab called our office and spoke to our billing department about his increased sewer service charges. We explained the options to Mr. Swab as described above, but he declined our offer to provide any assistance. Mr. Swab subsequently took it upon himself to pay only a flat-ratt portion of the sewer charges. This left a portion of the sewer charges unpaid on his utility bill. 0 0 dovember 25,1996 Sewer Service Charges on Property Owned by James R. Swab Page 2 If a customer, for whatever reason, does not to pay the complete balance on their utility bill, normal billing practice is to carry over the unpaid balance into the next billing perio If an outstanding balance remains unpaid after 30 days or if the customer does not otherwise contact the District to make payment arrangements, the customer will receive i delinquent bill notice. Over the next approximately 30 days, if the customer has not pail or made arrangements to pay, the outstanding balance, they will receive two more late notices including a door hanger which is left at the customer’s service address. If the customer still does not respond, the District will then discontinue the customer’s water service pending receipt of payment on the 30-day outstanding balance, plus late charges. Since Mr. Swab has refused to pay his September 15 and October 15 utility bills as calculated (please see attachments), he was noticed after the second billing month (or 60 days) that his service would be discontinued for delinquent payment. Staff has put servic discontinuance on hold until the City Council has had an opportunity to discuss this item as a Council meeting agenda item. Staff recommends that Mr. Swab cooperate with the District in allowing us to audit his water use. If high irrigation use is indicated, we would suggest that Mr. Swab consider th feasibility of branching his water service into separate potable and irrigation systems. If branching is possible, Mr. Swab would then only be charged for water used through the potable meter; water used through the irrigation meter would be excluded from the sewei charge calculation. However, this will result in an additional “meter charge” for the extrz meter. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at extension 106. Robert J. Greaney Attachments ~. ,1 - .,. . .- - , -,=~:=~~-,~,.j~-:=,;~- _- --. _I - .. City of Carlsbad Utility Bill Mu~dpal Water Dishid 5950 El Camino Real. Carlsbad. CA. Smx, (619) 43e-2722 - - ACCOUNT NUMBER - I 17015-001 -SERVICE ADDRESS PAYMENT DUE BALANCE DUE 1024 7 P4YMENT DUE BALANCE DUE .-