City Council Minutes 2002 05 21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Louisville City Council Meeting May 21, 2002 Page 12 Phare reported that the City does not have a utility billing system that can address the more sophisticated billing scenarios that are appropriate for water conservation. He stated that the City has budgeted for an examination of the utility billing meter reading operation, which would provide for drive-by readings. Given new technology, Staff is investigating ways of upgrading meter reading. Van Pelt asked Phare if homeowners could monitor water consumption by reading their meters. Phare explained that it would depend on the accessibility of the water meter. He noted that some meters are located in crawl spaces, and in finished and unfinished basements. He stated that the readout located on the outside of the houses only register in thousand gallon increments, where the meter registers actual consumption. Phare explained that there was some confusion about when the day starts on a designated watering day. He stated that watering begins at 7:00 p.m. and ends at 7:00 a.m. He gave the following example: if the watering day is Monday, it begins at 7:00 p.m. and ends on Tuesday morning at 7:00 a.m. All watering is to be done at night or early morning. Keany asked Phare if there is an established rate for the first gallon of water. Phare stated that imbedded in the 7,000 gallon is a fixed cost associated with maintaining the account, whether there is any water consumption or not. Keany stated that Louisville is a family friendly city and he requested information concerning the average water consumption for a family of four. He explained that he does not want to penalize families. Phare reported that in 2001, that the average consumption for residential consumers was 5,000 in the winter months, and 20,000 gallons in the summer months. He stated that he did not have the statistics to project that analysis for a family of four. Keany reported that he has received emails from residents who believe that the water rates should be more steeply tiered so that larger water users would pay for their share. Davidson stated that some homeowners have virtually no landscaping and still use a lot of water. He concurred that it would be unfair to penalize people who have larger families. Simmons commented that the intent of the water plan was to establish a surcharge for larger water usage. Sisk emphasized that the citizens have to conserve their water consumption. He stated the surcharge would be implemented to high water users, while citizens who conserve water will be rewarded. Mayer stated that although no system is perfect, this program does not reflect any conservation of indoor water usage. He suggested that the citizens be given credit 12