The County Council will consider a proposed sewage rate increase at the August 8th Council meeting. Do you have any feedback for the Council?

The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) will bring to the Los Alamos County Council a draft ordinance 02-276 to increase sewage rates.  Open to the public, the hearing on the proposed rate increase is scheduled for:

PLEASE NOTE THE DATE CHANGE FROM JULY 25TH TO AUGUST 8TH.

Tuesday, August 8th at 6 PM
Municipal Building, Council Chambers
1000 Central Avenue, Los Alamos, NM

If the council adopts the ordinance it will go into effect immediately. 

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Please provide comments on this open forum page before 11:59 PM on Sunday, August 6th.  All comments from this forum will be shared with the County Council prior to the hearing. Members of the public are also welcome to provide public comment in person to the Council at the August 8th hearing.  

BACKGROUND

The DPU is planning for replacement of the White Rock Wastewater Treatment Facility. The wastewater treatment facility has already exceeded its expected life by 10 years, but is still minimally functional despite that it is over 50 years old. DPU is proposing an 8-percent increase in fiscal year 2018 to establish a rate structure that will be sufficient to sustain future anticipated debt service for the new wastewater treatment facility. Depending on the ultimate funding mechanism, additional rate increases in future fiscal years may be necessary. 

MONTHLY SERVICE FEE:

All customer classes will be charged a monthly customer charge for each account to cover administrative costs such as billing and collections.  

COLLECTION AND TREATMENT RATES:

Residential customers are charged a flat fixed charge per dwelling unit for sewage that is collected and treated. 

Commercial customers (which includes commercial, schools and county customers) are charged a variable rate based on the winter average of potable water consumed, or other measuring period as determined appropriate by the DPU based on seasonal or other non-traditional water use patterns, with a minimum of 2,000 gallons.  

ADJUSTMENT FACTOR:

Further, DPU applies an adjustment factor to commercial customers to account for the difference between the volume billed and the volume expected to require treatment.  This difference arises because of metering errors, timing differences, the use of a winter water consumption average for billing, and storm water infiltration. The proposed ordinance changes the adjustment factor from a "fraction required" to convert the volume to the amount of sewage expected to be treated, to more specifically "16-percent." 

EXAMPLE BILL

Read the proposed draft ordinance:  02-276 Sewage Service Rate

With the 8-percent rate increase, sewer charges will represent 11 percent of the typical Los Alamos household expenses.