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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 9433it ~ ,. .l ORDINANCE No. ~~ AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 37-23, SECTION 37-25(b) AND SECTION 37-26(c), OF CHAPTER 37 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH (:.1964.) AS AMENDED, BY REVISING CERTAIN WATER RATES AND CHARGES; MAKING THIS ORDINANCE CUMULATIVE OF PRIOR ORDINANCES; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES AND PROVI- SIONS OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; PROVIDING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; PROVIDING A SEVERA- BILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING FOR ENGROSSMENT AND ENROLLMENT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. SE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS: SECTION 1. That Subsections (c), (f), and (g) of Section 37-23 of Chapter 37 of the City of Fort Worth (1964) as amended, be and is hereby amended and, after having been so amended, shall hereafter read and be as follows: (c) All customers requesting the activation of water and/or sewer service will be requested to place a deposit in accordance with the provisions of Section 37-30 here- of. In the event this deposit is not received within seven (7) working days from the date of application,. such water and/or sewer service, if already initiated, may be terminated pursuant to City Council rules and' regula- tions, and a field action charge of Twenty Dollars ($20.00) for nonpayment of service deposit will be added to the customer's account in addition to any accrued costs for service rendered to the time of termination. (f) For all checks returned -from the bank, a special charge of Ten Dollars ($10.00) will be added to the customer's account for office handling of the returned check, as provided in Section 41-7 of this Code. If the customer does not remit payment for the returned check, field action to collect payment or to terminate service will be required, and a charge of Twenty Dollars ($20.00) for field action for returned check will be added to the customer's account. (g) A 'straight connection' is defined as any type device installed in lieu of a water meter, connecting the city's water service pipe to a private service pipe for the purpose of obtaining unmetered water. Whenever a straight connection is found in lieu of a water meter, the straight connection shall be removed by the City. A special charge of Fifty Dollars ($50.00) will be made for the removal of such straight connection. When a straight connection is found at a location where there is no record of a request for service to the location, a Fifty Dollar ($50.00) special charge for the straight connec- tion removal shall be added to the applicable special charge for subsequent activation and to all estimated water billings, and it shall be paid by the party requesting the activation. r' SECTION 2. That Section 37-25 (b) of Chapter 37 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1 964) , as amended , be and is hereby amended and , after having been so amended, shall hereafter read and be as follows: "(b) The following schedule of rates per month, or fraction thereof, shall be the charges to all persons, as herein defined, for furnishing water to water customers located within the City: RATE FOR WATER SERVICE Monthly Service Charge for Water A monthly service charge in the following amount shall be charged based on the size of the meter serving the customer: Meter Size Amount (inches) ($) 5/8 x 3/4 2.30 1 3.75 1 -1 /2 6.00 2 8.40 3 1 8.40 4 29.95 6 58.80 8 87.15 10 115.50 12 131.25 The monthly volume charge for water service is as follows Rates for October Cubic Feet thru May Billing First 4000 cubic feet of water used per month, per 100 cubic feet ~. $1,07 For the next 246, 000 cubic feet of water used per month, per 100 cubic feet $0.73 For all in excess of 250,000 cubic feet of water used per month, per 100 cubic feet $0.57 Rates for June thru Cubic Feet September Billing First 50,000 cubic feet of water used per month, per 100 cubic feet '$1.07 For the next 200,000 cubic feet of water used per month, per 100 cubic feet $0.73 For all in excess of 250,000 cubic feet of water used per month, per 100 cubic feet $0.57 _2_ ~,,, :: _, Raw Water Service: All use per month $0.28 per 1 , 000 gallons The service charges set out in the foregoing schedule are based upon the amount of water used as measured by meters. SECTION 3. That "Schedule A" of Section 37-26(a), Connection Charge, of Chapter 37 of the Fort Worth City Code (1964) , as amended , be and the same is hereby amended, and, .after having been so amended, "Schedule A" shall hereafter read and be as follows "The minimum monthly charge shall be equal to and be the same as the monthly service charge as contained in Section 37-25 (b) hereof. Fire Line Service Connection Size Monthly Charge Inches 4 $ 6.50 6 $ 9.75 8 $ 13.00 10 $ 21.65 SECTION 4. This ordinance shall be cumul at five of all provisions of ord fi- nances and of the., Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (1964), as amended, except where the provisions of this ordinance are in direct --- conflict with the provisions of such ordinances and such Code, in which event conflicting provisions of such ordinances and such Code are hereby repealed. SECTION 5. It is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this ordinance are severable, and if .any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this ordinance shall be declared unconstitu- tional by the val id judgment or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this ordinance, since the same would have been enacted by the City Co uncil without the incorporation in this ordinance of any such unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section. -3- `~ ~, SECTION 6. That all rights or remedies of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, are expressly saved as to any and all violations of Chapter 37 or of any amendments thereto of the Fort Worth City Code (1964), as amended, which have accrued at the time of the effective date of this ordinance; and as to such accru ed violations, the Court shall have all of the powers that existed prior to the effective date of this ordinance. SECTION 7. The City Secretary of the City of Fort Worth is hereby directed to engross and enroll this ord inance by copying the caption in the minutes of the City Council and by filing the ordinance in the ord inance records of the City. SECTION 8. That this ordinance shall become effective and be in full force and effect from and after its passage, provided, however, that the increased rates specified herein shall apply to customer utility statements sent by the City of Fort Worth on or after October 1, 1985, and it is so ordained . APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: City Attorney ~ . ~` ~ g Date : ADOPTED: / `~ o~ ,3-~~ EFFECTIVE: ~ 3 ~~ ~~j ~~--di -4- /~4~ x. ~t . TRAIVyrUR ~ ~~ I ~ ~io~i' a 81.IC .WDRKS.A N etER AtJ MI1` DE'dELOFMEN ~ FARE AOMINISI `TDAT'E't+ ~ REFERENCE SUBJECT Propose Water an dS ewd er - ~ PAGE NUMBER Rate Adjustments I 5 a 7/23/85 G-6389 i 1 of ~ :vTlOt1'k RECOMMENDATION It is recommended the City Council approve the attached Ordinances, adopting new water and wastewater rate schedules as outlined below, to be charged all retail customers of the Fort Worth Water Department with an effective date of billing on and after October 1, 1985. RACKGR~l1ND For the past several months, staff members. of the Water Department and the Office of Management Services have worked closely with the City Council Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee. Three major issues have been examined (1) the 1986 budgetary requirements of the Water Department, (2) the adequacy of existing 1985 water and sewer rates to satisfy the increased budgetary require- ment, and (3) the redesign of the existing five-block water rate schedule to establish a more equitable rate structure. Recommendations concerning each of these issues are outlined below. BUDGETARY ISSUES The fiscal year 1986 budget establishes the revenue requirement which must be met through water and sewer service revenue, in conjunction with other sources of utility income. The budget request for FY 1986, along with the adopted 1985 budget and reestimate, is shown below ADOPTED 1984-1985 REESTIMATE 1984-1985 PROPOSED 1985-1986 WATER $40,320,054 $41,387,099 $50,384,107 SEWER $31,644,428 $31,268,935 $35,625,854 Totals $71,964,482 $72,656,034 $86,009,961 The proposed budget reflects a 19.5 increase over the 1984-85 adopted budget. The major funding changes are a $5,400,352 increase in debt service, a $6,126,917 increase in raw water costs, and an additional $900,000 for the water and sewer capital improvement program. The proposed budget recommends a net increase of 9.5 positions in Water and 6 5 positions in Sewer. ADEQUACY OF EXISTING RATES The existing rate schedule for water and wastewater service will not adequately satisfy the 1986 budgetary requirement, as shown below DATE REFERENCE SUBJECT Proposed Water and Wastewater PAGE ' NUMBER Rate Adjustments 2 of 5 7/23/85 G-6389 FOR FY1986 WATER Total Funds Required $50,384,107 Estimated Retail Service Revenue $35,164,472 (under existing 1985 rates) Other income $9,600,261 Total projected income $44,764,733 Additional funds needed $5,619,374 (as % of retail revenue) 15.98% SEWER $35,625,854 $17,017,295 $13,398,031 $30,415,326 $5,210,528 30.62% TOTAL $86,009,961 $52,181,767 $22,998,292 $75,180,059 $10,829,902 20.75% As indicated a revenue deficit for water and sewer services of approximately 16q, and 31%, respectively is anticipated. However, rather than eliminating this deficit solely through increased rates, a total of $5.5 million from prior years' earnings can be carried forward to reduce the additional funds required, as shown below WATER SEWER TOTAL Prior years' revenue $3,267,499 $2,232,501 $5,500,000 (as % of retail revenue) 9.3% 13.1% 10.5% Additional revenue from rate adjustments $2,351,875 $2,978,027 $5,329,902 (as % of retail revenue) 6.7% 17.59'0 10.2% Additional funds provided $5,619,374 $5,210,528 $10,829,902 These figures indicate that a total retail revenue requirement of $37,516,347 for water and $19,995,,322 for sewer must be captured through the respective rate structures. This reflects the need for a blended overall retail rate increase of 10 2%. RATE DESIGN -- WASTEWATER SERVICE Y" y yc A 17.5% increase for retail normal strength wastewater service and volume charges is recommended in order to obtain the requisite $19.99 million revenue requirement. The resulting rate schedule follows :~-~- ,~...r DATE REFERENCE SUBJECT PrOpOSed Water and Wastewater PAGE NUMBER Rate Adjustments 3 of 5 7/23/85 G-6389 I. Normal Strength Customers EXISTING PROPOSED Monthly service charge $3.50 $4.10 Monthly volume rate per hundred cubic $0.518 $0.609 feet (CCF) II. Monitored Customers PROPOSED Monthly Service Charge $4.10 Volume Charge $0.444 per 100 Cu. Ft. BOD Strength Charge $0.0790 per pound of BOD Suspended Solids Strength Charge $0.0420 per pound of SS Monitoring Charge Total Actual Cost It is recommended that the existing method of levying a minimum monthly charge for sewer service be eliminated. In addition, it is recommended that the 1500 cubic feet ceiling currently placed on the calculation of winter quarter resi- dential sewer consumption be lifted. As a result, the monthly average of actual water consumption measured for a residential unit during the winter quarter (January, February, March) will be used as the basis for billing monthly sewer volume. RATE DESIGN -- WATER SERVICE The current water rate schedule is composed of five blocks (four in the summer months), with a different rate applied incrementally to consumption in each block. With a five block rate structure, there is a disparity among rates paid by customers whose consumption falls into different volume categories. Fewer rate blocks would mean a more equitable rate comparison between customers with widely differing consumption patterns. Thus, to generate the required $37.5 million in retail water revenue, a new three-block rate schedule has been designed to substitute for the existing five-block, in order to establish a more equitable rate structure for different customer classes. The three-block rate structure eliminates the minimum monthly charge for water service and is shown below DATE REFERENCE SUBJECT: PrOpOSed Water and Wastewater PAGE NUMBER Rate Adjustments 4 5 7/23/85 G-6389 of PROPOSED INSIDE CITY RATES FOR RETAIL WATER SERVICE I. Treated Water Service METER SIZE (~n Inc es .625 .750 1.00 1.50 2.00 3.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00 VOLUME CHARGES MONTHLY CHARGE $2.30 $2.30 $3.75 $6.00 $8.40 $18.40 $29.95 $58.80 $87.15 $115.50 $131.25 WINTER SUMMER (October-May) (June-September) cubic feet per CCF cubic feet per CCF First 4000 $1.07 First 50,000 $1.07 Next 246,000 $0.73 Next 200,000 $0.73 Over 250,000 $0.57 Over 250,000 $0.57 II. Fire Line Service Monthly Se cvr e Connection Size Charge inches 4 $6.50 6 $9.75 8 $13.00 10 $21.65 III. Raw Water Service A11 use per month $0.28 per 1000 gallons Attachment I provides a comparison of existing 1985 retail water and sewer rates versus proposed rates for fiscal year 1986. Attachment II details the individual impact of the new rate schedules on a representative sample of retail water and wastewater customers. -~ ~~` t "~ s d' DATE REFERENCE SUBJECT proposed Water and Wastewater PAGE 7/23/.85 NUMBER G-6389 Rate Adjustments ~ 5ot 5 - - The rate adjustments recommended herein represent a blended increase of 10.2% overall fo r water and sewer service combined. As Attachment II demonstrates, customers within different consumption blocks will incur increases both above and below the 10.2% adjustment due in large part to the restructuring of the five-block into athree-block rate schedule. APPROVED BY CITY COUNCIL J U N ~ 1985 /~ ,~ / /~ ~ ~~.~i~u-~~-t.,r City Secretary of the City of Foxt y[/;~ ~~ SUBMITTEp FOR THE CITY MANAGER'S DISPOSITION BY COUNCIL: PROCESSED BY OFFICE BY' ^ APPROVED ORIGINATING T • R1 Chard SdWe ^ OTHER (DESCRIBE) DEPAR MENT HEAD y CITY SECRETARY FOR ADDITIONAL INFOR ATION p S Adopted Ordinance~N~ CONTACT am Nunn Ext. 022 , ATE.