City Water Budgets Do Not Add Up
The city of Boulder's water budget system is charging many commercial customers unfairly and an immediate change in the water billing methodology is required.
In January of this year the city began billing based on a given water customer's total water use in 2005, divided by twelve. This 12-month average was then applied as the allocation for each month in 2007. If a customer used more than this baseline amount - known as Block 4 and Block 5 rates - the charges could be dramatically and in most cases, unfairly high.
This new system fails to take into account legitimate seasonal increases in water needs for irrigation, unexpected increases in customer demands and a variety of more specific circumstances relative related to business operations. Businesses have seen massive substantial increases in their bills for watering the same landscaping they have had for years; and spikes in their charges due to production schedules. In addition, expanding businesses are being charged for "extra" water use as if they were simply being wasteful.
According to figures released by the City's of Boulder's Utilities Department in October for water use through August, the Commercial/Industrial class of water customers saw a two percent decrease in use from 2006, yet in aggregate this class has paid over $313,000 more than in 2006 - nearly 10% more than last year. Many customers without separate irrigation meters for outdoor watering have been hit with especially high bills.
This failure for tThe city budgeting system's failure to recognize that business operations are not stagnant and consistent month to month is at the root of the billing problem. This concern was raised by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce in July 2004, when that organization urged the City Council to avoid the potential complications of a change to the water billing system. We agree with their sentiment - raised over three years ago - to "eliminate the inequities of the seasonal-based calculation of average water use" and insist theat city administration act now to eliminate the inequities of annual average water use calculations.
While the city has a protocol for adjusting water allocations, the onus is on business owners to appeal and prove their historic water use as well as their irrigation needs. This leads to an additional problem of accountability. The city utilities department often agrees to adjust the water allocation in face of a customer's appeal; however the billing change is not retroactive. Although the customer has demonstrated evidence to change their water allocation going forward, there the department refuses is noto rebate or credit the customer offered for inaccurate billings in the previous month's inaccurate billingperiods. We ask: "What logic justifies not correcting a billing error?"
Boulder Tomorrow is disappointed in the decision to delay a City Council study session from October 9 until February 2008 to address these issues. Additionally we question the notion that the nuances of utility billing methodology should even be a City Council priority. We believe the City Manager, utilities staff and the Water Resources Advisory Board (WRAB) have the authority and the responsibility to equitably implement the goals of the Council's water budget ordinance and determine the best changes to the system without requiring micromanagement by City Council.
As the City staff is quite competent to fix it, they should expeditiously address and correct this faulty billing methodology. We agree with the recommendation by WRAB that the City Manager should be instructed to "formulate methods of providing proper budgets to multi-family and Commercial/Industrial customers with multiple meters and/or unpredictable monthly demand patterns, and to customers with unique problems." A mixture of historic use, business growth, legitimate equitable assessments for irrigable areas assessments and recognition of previous investments in efficient equipment are a few of the key aspects that must be considered.
Instead of waiting for a new City Council to review technical details to water budgeting, we believe the water budget billing system should be quickly adjusted by the City Manager to more accurately and reasonably charge Boulder's businesses for their legitimate water use.
