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ITEM 1 — WATER, WASTEWATER AND RECLAIMED WATER USER RATE AND CHARGE <br />STUDY TASKS <br />1-1. Project Initiation — An on-site or telephone meeting \vith County staff will be held to initiate the <br />study process, which in general includes: <br />a) Discussion of primary goals and objectives; <br />b) Updating data previously provided by the County and availability of any new data; <br />c) Operating and administrative policies and procedures; <br />d) Current and future economic constraints; <br />e) Customer base and other service agreements; <br />f) Customer growth assumptions; <br />g) Utility's desired approach to funding the CIP including septic to sewer; <br />h) Consultant/County staff communications process; and <br />i) Overview of time schedules, meetings and deliverable formats. <br />1-2. Customer Data — A review and evaluation of historic and current water, wastewater and reclaimed <br />water customer activity and user fee revenue data will be conducted to identify customer characteristics. <br />To facilitate this task a request for data will be directed to the County for either a comprehensive billing <br />frequency analysis if available through the current billing system, or an electronic file containing <br />information for 12 consecutive months of bills by customer classification and meter size on the number <br />of: (i) accounts; (ii) dwelling units if applicable; (iii) equivalencies; (iv) usage; and (v) the user fee amount <br />for each bill. In addition, billing, demand and usage data for all customers provided service(s) through <br />special agreements. The billing frequency analysis is necessary to identify the water, wastewater and <br />reclaimed water usage characteristics by customer class and size of service. Once the billing frequency <br />analysis is completed, the Consultant will coordinate with the County to verify the results and obtain <br />concurrence on the findings for use in developing the user rates and charges. An important element in <br />the billing frequency process is the identification of "outliers" and/or events where billing corrections <br />were made but usage amounts in the billing data were not corrected. Additionally, flow, strength and <br />frequency data with be requested on customers subject to the wastewater industrial surcharge. <br />1-3. Fiscal and Revenue Requirements — A review and evaluation will be conducted of utility financial <br />and accounting information, including but not limited to budgets, historical and current financial <br />records, operation and maintenance reports, R&R activities, CIP and schedules of existing, proposed <br />debt service and policies regarding reserve fund balances. The results and findings will be discussed <br />with County staff to obtain concurrence and then used as the basis for fiscal and revenue requirements. <br />This item includes reconciling affiliated activities such as allocation of interest and other income. <br />1-4. Rate and Fee Architecture — The existing rate structures, including policy relative to Guaranteed <br />Revenue, will be evaluated to identify conformance with goal and objectives. Of interest to the County <br />is an evaluation of water, wastewater and reclaimed water equivalency criteria by customer class, usage <br />block allowances, correlation to impact fee equivalency criteria and other revenue generation items as <br />may be appropriate. Items of interest will be evaluated and developed as necessary together with <br />comparative results on customer billing impacts, revenue sufficiency and other utility concerns <br />including use of automatic indexing. <br />1-5. Allocation of Cost and Rate Adjustments — Net revenue requirements for each utility function will <br />be allocated to individual rate structure components pursuant to the proposed rate structure criteria. <br />Based on customer classes, equivalency/demand determinants and allocated revenue requirements, <br />user rates will be developed independently for water, wastewater and reclaimed water. Tables and <br />schedules identifying changes in the proposed rates together with customer impacts and comparison <br />to other communities will also be developed and included in the study process. <br />1-6. Forecast of Customer Equivalencies and Billable Usage — Pursuant to historical and planning data <br />provided by the County, projections of the number of equivalencies and billable flows by customer <br />class and rate structure configuration for each utility service will be developed and reviewed with <br />County staff for concurrence. <br />Page 2 of 6 <br />