City Council Minutes 2014 03 11 SP

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City Council Special Meeting Minutes March 11, 2014 Page 8 of 11 Is the methodology for water supply based on new single family residential? Mr. Giardina stated it would be used as a basis for single - family and multi - family residents. He presented another slide comparing the annual water, wastewater and stormwater system development charges for single family residential of 10 Front Range communities. Louisville ranked in the upper group. He stated there are a variety of explanations on why other cities charges are lower, including setting their fees less than the indicated costs or,having a different capacity and not having to expand their facilities. Public Works Director Kowar noted the City of Lafayette may compare lower in tap fees, but they have a water in -lieu fee, which is an additional cost to a developer. Mr. Giardina requested Council direction on the Task Force recommendations: 1) Whether to pursue the smoothing approach; 2) Further evaluation of the water budget approach and 3) Changing the wastewater structure from fixed rate to a volume based rate. PUBLIC COMMENT Tom Phare, 808 W. Mahogany Circle, Louisville, CO, requested the cost of, service calculations be made public. He pointed out in the Water Rate Structure from Block 1 to Block 3 is a very significant rate jump. He noted during the 2002 drought commercial taps were using water exceeding what they purchased and the existing methodology captured the cost for water consumption. He explained in Louisville, everyone paid the same for a unit of capacity in the plants, facilities, and water resources. It was determined residential was using far above and beyond what they purchased with their regular tap. He stated in the 2002 drought the residential home owners did an excellent job of conserving water. He asked Council to consider what would be the right rate for the City of Louisville. Ned Williams, 1337 Harrison Court, Louisville, CO, a Task Force member, addressed the financial planning and the rate structure and recommended moving forward with more equity in the cost of service. With respect to the question of planning for droughts, he felt it was best dealt with through the reserves. He stated one option was to allow commercial accounts to continue with a revised inclining block rate structure. He felt whatever rate structure is approved; the type of structure doesn't dictate the amount of revenue. He stated water budgets convey a clearer message for all the accounts, residential and commercial, of their water consumption. Rick Brew, 950 Spruce Street, Louisville, CO, a Task Force member, stated most of the Task Force's recommendations were unanimous. The only discussion was on water budgets or a modified block structure and whether it was too intrusive. He noted some Task Force members had expertise in the field of water. He stated there were some other recommendations on the systems development which will be included in the final report. The Task Force discussed multi - family and commercial users; existing tap fees