DEPARTMENT: Finance
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Ben Gorzell, Chief Finance Officer
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S) IMPACTED: City Wide
SUBJECT:
City Staff Recommendation Regarding the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) Proposed Modifications to the Water and Sewer Rate Structure and Proposed Rate Adjustments
SUMMARY:
City staff will provide its professional recommendation to the City Council on the proposed modifications to the water and sewer rate structure including changes to the residential, general, irrigation, and wholesale class rates and proposed rate adjustments.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Rate Structure
Approximately every five years, SAWS conducts a comprehensive cost of service and rate design study with the help of a national rate consultant and a citizen's advisory committee. The Rate Advisory Committee (RAC) consisted of representatives from throughout the community, including those nominated by City Council members. The RAC was tasked with reviewing the current structure and deliberating on how to best fund the needs of the city's water utility. In May, the RAC unanimously agreed upon the final recommendations. These recommendations aim to create a rate structure that will ensure fairness among customer categories (residential, commercial, irrigation, etc.), while also allowing SAWS to fully recover its costs.
The RAC approved the following recommendations for water charges:
1. Develop a Residential Lifeline Supply rate block.
2. Expand the number of Residential volumetric blocks from four to eight.
3. Continue to group the multi-family customers with the General class.
4. Expand the number of Irrigation volumetric blocks from three to four.
5. For the Wholesale class, reduce the existing four block volumetric block structure to two blocks. Eliminate the distinction between inside city limit (ICL) and outside city limit (OCL) wholesale rates and develop one wholesale water rate structure.
6. Eliminate the seaso...
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