Proposed Rate Increase [Proposition 218 Notification]
San Bruno City Council is considering an increase to water, wastewater, garbage and recycling rates. The proposed increases are listed below under "The Proposed Rates". In compliance with Prop 218, the City has mailed out the proposed rates to all San Bruno property owners. Property owners will have 45 days to submit a protest letter or postcard to:
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Water and Wastewater 567 El Camino Real San Bruno, CA 94066 |
Garbage Rates 567 El Camino Real San Bruno, CA 94066 |
The protest must include the property's Assessor's Parcel Number or street address and owner's signature. All protests must be received by May 8, 2012 at 5:00 pm at the City Clerk's Office or 7:00 pm at the City Council Meeting, at the San Bruno Senior Center, 1555 Crystal Springs Road.
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If you have any questions regarding the proposed rates, please contact the Finance Department, Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm at (650) 616-7086.
The Proposed Rates:
The proposed rates for Water, Wastewater, Garbage and Recycling are as follows:
- Water: 9.8%
- Wastewater: 10.3%
- Garbage and Recycling: 2.341%
The proposed rate schedules below have been mailed to residents on March 21, 2012. These rate changes were presented to the City Council on February 28, 2012 and March 13, 2012.
- Proposed Water and Wastewater Rate Schedule (July, 2012 - June, 2017)
- Proposed Garbage Rate Schedule (July, 2012 - June, 2013)
Factors influencing the rate increases:
Primary factors figured into the proposed rate increases for water and wastewater include
(1) major repairs and replacements of City infrastructures needed in the next 10 years to
ensure continued reliable services to San Bruno Businesses and Residents and (2) 54%
increase in the water cost purchased from San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
resulted from the Hetch‑Hetchy water system infrastructure upgrade.
Update: A draft of the Water & Sewer Rate Study (large file) used to develop the new rates is available for download in PDF format.
For garbage and recycling, the 2.341% rate increase factors in 80% of the increase in CPI plus higher landfill disposal cost. For questions related to garbage and recycling, please contact Recology San Bruno at (650) 583-8536.
The Impact on the Average Residential Bill:
For the average single-family residential customer with a 3/4‑inch meter and a 32-gallon toter, the total dollar impact next starting July 1, 2012 will be as followed:
- Water: $6/month or $12/bill
- Wastewater: $5/month or $10/bill
- Garbage: $0.6/month or $1.20/bill
Note: Residential customers are billed bi-monthly while commercial, governmental, and industrial customers are billed monthly.
City's Infrastructure Improvements from July 2009 through June 2012:
The City's efforts to improve water and wastewater system reliability in recent years include:
- Replacement of 1.5 miles of water and wastewater mains on Mastick Avenue
- Replacement of the Maple Water Pump Station
- Replacement of wastewater mains on Montegomery Avenue
- Repairs to resolve frequent wastewater overflows behind Trenton Drive
Rates Comparison with Neighboring Cities:
San Bruno's rates for water, wastewater and garbage fall in the middle in comparison to neighboring cities in the County. Click below for the comparison charts:
Proposition 218 and Owners' Right to Protest:
Proposition 218 amended the California Constitution Article XIIIC and XIIID to require property owner notification of proposed increases in propoerty related fees and give property owners the right to protest. F or specific requirements of Proposition 218, please visit: www.californiataxdata.com/pdf/Proposition218.pdf.
On March 21, 2012, the City of San Bruno had published and notified property owners of the proposed rate changes. Property owners have 45 days, May 8, 2012, to protest the rate changes by submitting written protests. The written protest must be signed by one of the property owners and must include the Assessor Property Number or property address. On the 45th day, May 8, 2012, the City Council will hold a public meeting to consider and tally the protests. If more than 50% of the property owners protest the rate changes, the current rates will remain in effect. Otherwise, the new rates will be effective on all bills generated on or after July 1, 2012.
Note: all bills generated on or after July 1, 2012 will reflect the new rates.
Effective Date of the Proposed Rates Changes:
The new rates will be effective for all bills generated on or after July 1 of each fiscal year.
For 2012‑13, that will be July 1, 2012; for 2013‑14, July 1, 2013 and so on.
Other changes to the water and wastewater rate structures:
Water and Wastewater Monthly Service Charge:
The City is proposing modifications to several rate structures that more equitably assign costs to various ratepayers. The rate structure changes are listed below
- Water - Align Fixed Monthly Service Charges with Meter Capacity:
The current fixed charges are not proportional to the capacity of the meter. For example, a 2‑inch meter charge is 5.3 times greater in capacity - the amount of demand on the water system, than that of 3/4‑inch meter but only pays 3.5 times than of the 3/4‑inch meter. Because a 2‑inch meter has a greater impact on the system than a 3/4‑inch meter, this rate structure change better allocates costs according to impact on the system. Aligning the fixed charges according to water meter capacity will be phased in over the next five years. - Wastewater - Align Fixed Monthly Service Charge with Water Meter Capacity:
All customers are currently billed one fixed charge, regardless of the number of units the account is servicing. As a result, a single‑family home is paying more per dwelling unit than multi‑family homes serviced by one meter. To have a more equitable method of assessing service charges, without a reliable method of knowing the number of dwelling units per account, the wastewater fixed charges will align with meter capacity ratio with a cap for water meters at 4‑inch or larger. Similar to water service charges, the changes will be phased in over the next five years. (Side note: majority of single‑family homes are currently using a 3/4‑inch meters and will not see an increase in their monthly service charge in excess of 10.3%).
Water and Wastewater Consumption Structure Changes:
- Water - Add a third rate tier to single family residential rates:
To encourage water conservation, the City is proposing to change the current water consumption tiers for single‑family homes from 2‑tiers to 3‑tiers. The first 10 units of water consumed will be calculated at Tier 1, the next 10 units at Tier 2, and anything above 20 units will be accessed at Tier 3. Under the new tier structure, 60% of bills will fall within Tier 1, 28% in Tier 2, and remaining 12% in Tier 3. See Proposed Water and Wastewater Increase for the rates. - Wastewater - Minor modification to strength of each customer class:
The cost to treat wastwater primarily depends on the volume of wastewater and its strength (i.e. the degree of contamination in the wastewater). The current wastewater rates are assigned by customer class; however, the estimated strength of each customer class does not match the same strength calculated and used by the Treatment Plant. Aligning the customer class wastewater strength to that of the Treatment Plant will result in minor impacts between each customer classes. To see examples of different "customer class", please click on Utility Billing - Sewer Code.
