City Council
	Agenda Request
Agenda Of:	November 6, 2007	Agenda Request No:		VII E
Initiated By:	Jennifer Brown	Responsible Department:		Fiscal Services
Presented By:	Jennifer Brown, Assistant Fiscal Services Director	Department Head:		Linda Symank, Director of Fiscal Services
		Additional Department. Head (s):		SuEllen Staggs, Director of Utilities
Subject / Proceeding:	Wastewater Billing First Reading of Ordinance 1652
Exhibits:	Ordinance 1652
Clearances			Approval
Legal:	Eugenia Cano, Assistant city Attorney II		Executive Director:	n/a
Purchasing:	n/a		Asst. City Manager:	Karen Daly
Budget:	n/a		City Manager:	Allen Bogard
Budget
Expenditure Required: $			n/a
Amount Budgeted/Reallocation: $			n/a
Additional Appropriation: $			n/a
Recommended Action
Approval of Ordinance 1652 amending provisions regarding calculation of wastewater volume charges for residential customers.
Executive Summary
The City contracted with R.W. Beck, Inc to conduct a water and wastewater rate and cost of service study in May 2006. The results and recommended rates were presented to City Council in January 2007, and a new rate structure was implemented shortly thereafter. One of the recommendations of the study resulted in a change in the period used by the City to calculate the winter average for residential wastewater billing. After implementation of the recommendations, additional clarification is needed in the language in the existing ordinance. The proposed ordinance clarifies and formalizes the City’s desired billing practices. The residential wastewater average will be calculated using the average water usage billed on a customer’s February and March bills each year. This average sets the wastewater volume charge for the following twelve months, and is capped at a maximum of 12,000 gallons. This ordinance clarifies that the average is based on a customer’s billing period. The City currently has seventeen meter reading cycles. Depending on the cycle, the meter reading date can range from the first of the month to the middle or end of the month. New customers who have no water usage billed in the latest February and March are assigned an average of 9,600 gallons for wastewater billing until they can establish their own winter average. This average has historically been utilized by the City for new customers, but in the past it set a “cap” for wastewater charges instead of setting the amount to be billed. Actual household usage can vary depending on the size of the home and number of occupants. Because new customers have no history with the City, a standard volume charge must be used to bill wastewater charges for these customers. Prior to implementation of the recommendations in the rate study, wastewater charges were billed based on the lesser of the winter average or actual water usage during the month. In the first month of service, water usage typically did not exceed the winter average, so the wastewater charges were based on the water usage. Now that the winter average sets the amount billed for wastewater volume, new customers are being billed for 9,600 gallons regardless on the number of days they received service in their first month as a customer. This proposed ordinance will allow the City to prorate bills for partial month services based on the number of days the service is connected during the billing period. This proposal was reviewed by the Council Audit and Finance Committee. This ordinance will be effective upon approval of the second reading of the ordinance.
Exhibits

ORDINANCE NO. 1652

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SUGAR LAND, TEXAS, AMENDING CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE VIII, WATER AND WASTEWATER, OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES TO ESTABLISH PROVISIONS REGARDING CALCULATION OF WASTEWATER VOLUME CHARGES FOR RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS.

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL

OF THE CITY OF SUGAR LAND, TEXAS:

Section 1. That paragraphs (4) and (5) of Sec. 5-247 of the Code of Ordinances are renumbered as paragraphs (5) and (6), respectively.

Section 2. That Sec. 5-247 (3) is amended to read as follows:

(3) Unless subsection (4) applies, for residential customers, wastewater volume charges for April through March will be calculated using the lesser of the following:

(a) The customer’s average monthly water usage for the latest preceding February and March bills for service; or

(b) 12,000 gallons of water usage per month.

Section 3. That Sec.5-247 is amended by adding paragraph (4) to read as follows:

(4) New residential customers with no water usage billed in the latest preceding February and March will be charged a wastewater volume charge based on 9,600 gallons of water usage per month. In a new residential customer’s first billing cycle, the wastewater volume charge will be prorated based on the number of days for which water service was received through a meter.

Section 4. That this ordinance is effective immediately upon passage.

Section 5. That the provisions of this ordinance are severable and the invalidity of any part of this ordinance will not affect the validity of the remainder of the ordinance.

APPROVED on first consideration on __________________________, 2007.

ADOPTED upon second consideration on _______________________, 2007.

__________________________

David G. Wallace, Mayor

ATTEST:

____________________________

Glenda Gundermann, City Secretary

Reviewed for Legal Compliance: