City of Bend, Oregon Public Works Department, 29 May 2008

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From YouTube: Water Rate Study Update June2008

Description

Bend's Mayor, Council & City Staff discuss the need for a water rate change and the structure for the new rates.

A

Hello and welcome to city Edition, the city of bend's video news magazine, I'm, Justin Finestone, the city's communications manager in our lead story this month we'll take an in-depth look at the water rate study conducted by the public works department, city staff, mayor and council will explain the need for the new fees and how the new rates will be structured. The.

B

Reason we're changing water rates right now is because we really have to make some significant improvements not only to the underlying infrastructure there, but we're also being pushed by federal and state requirements that we need to be in compliance worth going forward.

C

Well, it became clear to us many years ago actually that the rate structure and Bend has this kind of historic legacy of fixed rates, same amount charged, no matter how much you use and so we're trying to change over to a rate structure that is more fair and actually encourages one of our big problems here, which is conservation, our source.

D

Of water up into bridge creek, watershed is one of the oldest I believe in the state. The water that comes down from that watershed area comes through two pipes that go back to the 1920s, and the integrity of those pipes is of great concern to the water division. This.

E

Facility you see behind me is the intake structure that was built in the 1920s that supplies the city with its surface water supply. This facility's is in need of update repair that is going to be quite expensive.

F

Behind me is the bridge creek watershed which the city of Bend shows it's a source of supply in 1924, we've been using it successfully since then, the.

E

Surface water supply is conveyed to the city through to transmission mains. Each approximately 11 miles long. Both of these transmission mains are showing signs of stress another.

F

Challenge of the existing infrastructure is encroachment of the public along the pipeline route. Encroachment.

E

Is where we have actual facilities? Garages parts of homes built on top of these transmission means when.

F

The pipeline was built in nineteen 24, 25 and 26 people didn't live in this area. We.

D

Have dry ways that go over our water lines. This is not the intentions we have with our anyway, so we need to work with our citizens with the county. Now the city departments, in clearing up these encroachments in the right aways, we.

F

Also have encroachment by trees and shrubs and plant material that wasn't there when the pipeline was put in, that puts it at risk of failure from wind storms, root, encroachment and other problems. In addition,.

E

To the aging infrastructure, we also have a threat of fire within our watershed. Currently, we estimate we have about forty percent of the timber within the watershed is standing dead. This is at a serious threat for a lightning strike. We've.

D

Met with the u.s. Forest Service and evaluated that area- it's not a matter of if but when a fire is going to happen. In that watershed, a fire in that watershed will mean that there'll be more erosion of the surrounding soils. In that watershed into the bridge, Creek stream and.

E

In that case, we would lose fifty percent of the city's annual water supply. That's.

D

Going to require it in the future that we have a water treatment facility they'll be able to filter out the sediment that gets into that stream. Part.

E

Of the revenue increases that we need is to address additional regulatory requirements, one.

F

Of the major regulatory drivers is complying with new EPA regulations for our surface water supply. The.

E

Epa is required requiring that we have surface water treatment, filter treatment on our supply by 2012. Once.

G

We put those filters in place that will really take down the percentage of danger from bridge creek fire, because water coming out of there, if it's hurt from the fire, will be able to filter it and still use it. The.

E

Estimated cost of replacing the transmission mains and getting us compliant with regulatory drinking water standards is approximately fifty million dollars that will need to be done within the next five years. The.

F

City of Bend is one of the luckiest water providers in the state and the fact that we have a dual source supply. Fifty percent of our water supply comes from Bridge Creek. The.

D

Remaining fifty percent of our water supply comes from wells through our city, those scattered at locations throughout the city. Right now, the.

B

City band is really fortunate that we're not relying on only one source of water, I'm.

G

Standing in front of well site number to buy art station, and this is one of the sources and.

B

What that does it just gives us a lot more flexibility. It enables us to better meet the demands of the city, because, obviously, during the summer months, you have much more much more increase in that during.

C

The summer months, our water system is barely adequate to supply the huge amounts of water that are needed for people, watering, their lawns landscaping of all types 2007.

F

Was the last year of our previous rate study, and so we are starting on two pieces of a significant rate change, and that is a new rate structure as well as determining our new revenue increases for the next five years. The.

H

Water system is supported by two sources of revenues, water rates, which is what you pay for your monthly bill, and also system development charges, RS dcs, which is what developers pay when they pick up a building permit well.

B

The council realized that we were going to be reviewing the sort of the water rates anyway, but one of the things that that councillor, Jim Clinton said you know we need to figure out looking at the structure per se, because we don't really have any incentives or one could say, disincentives in place to really encourage people to conserve. You've got a flat flat rate fee. Basically this there's no incentive at all and that it was one of the directions of the council yeah.

C

Just as the council directs and many other issues, we have assigned the task to a citizen committee of looking in great depth at the rate structure, what other communities are doing and what we should be doing here for solving our water problems in the future. They.

B

Met hundreds of hours put together, I think a really good good recommendation of what I'd say is a good first step. Roberts are going to need to go forward with with public hearings and get more input from the broader community. The.

I

Committee looked at array structure that would be equitable for a wide range ride range of water users. They.

B

Really are pushing towards a tiered process, something that really puts in alignment the incentives for citizens to continue to conserve water, Council.

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Directed us to really look at the rate structure and how we recover that revenue and bring it into the modern age. The.

G

Council asked the committee to come back with a rate structure that was fair, one that encouraged conservation. We.

C

Were looking for a rate structure that would not only solve our problems in the next few years, but be active in looking to solve problems in the future. And finally, we want to make sure that the rate structure is not an additional burden on low income people, people on fixed income, because, after all having clean waters and necessity currently.

E

Low water users are paying for and offsetting the costs of high water users to.

F

Really sum up the new rate structure goals. We want to entice all of our customers to be as efficient as they can that will bring down long-term operating costs, as well as delay. Infrastructure needs over the long term, so we can keep the system operating at its potential best. The.

H

Water rates and SDC's are both calculated based on the needs of the system. The needs of the system are really great for the next five years. Our capital improvements are anywhere from 70 to 80 million, and annual operating costs are over 12 million. In.

C

The additions that are caused by federal mandates and state mandates, the ratepayer ultimately has to bear the burden of that. So if we as a community can use our resources more efficiently, it will benefit all of us. So.

H

On top of the increasing financial needs, which requires us to have a rate increase, we also have to change our rate structure to a conservation based rate structure, so that means the more water you use the more you pay. What.

B

The council directors, we want to have incentives in place to really reward those users that either don't use very much or able to implement conservation techniques that minimize the use of water and again, we think that should be reflected in the price of they pay. It was a.

I

Unanimous decision that that conservation must be a part of the rate structure, the.

H

Current rate structure is pretty simple: we have a 600 cubic feet, minimum usage and then a volume rate beyond 600 cubic feet. The inclining block rate there were going to. We will have a 400 cubic feet, minimum innum um usage and for volume rates beyond 400 cubic feet. This.

F

New rate structure, we believe, reflects the values that the citizens hold our water users and so I think there's going to be many benefits that accrue to all of us for changing this rate structure, including and because of conservation, delayed infrastructure, a more efficient use of water, less energy use, more water in the aquifer and the river systems early.

G

Estimates are, we should be saving fifteen to twenty percent of the water that we're currently using by giving people an incentive to to be more conservative. There.

C

Will be more public hearings before the City Council wanted to encourage everyone? Who has an interest in this issue to show up and weigh in and tell us what you think I.

B

Think one thing that I really want to make clear is that oftentimes, when proposals are brought before City Council people feel oh, it's a done deal and I want to really stress that. That's not the case. I mean we think that's a good starting place, but I'm sure we'll hear from different people. I really anticipate. There will be some tweaks going forward and I encourage citizens and businesses to weigh in.