The City of Roseville owns and operates its water, wastewater and refuse utilities and evaluates utility rates and charges every two years to ensure revenues are sufficient to cover the cost of providing service.

On Wednesday, June 1, 2011, the Roseville City Council approved a proposal to increase water and solid waste utility rates charged to customers. There were no proposed increases in wastewater utility rates (except for approximately 300 Sacramento Sanitation District customers that live in Roseville - see notice titled Proposition 218 Legal Notice - 2011 Sacramento Sanitation for more details).

The Roseville City Council approved the water utility rate increases as proposed (see water section of the Proposition 218 notices to the right to see the approved water utility rates).

The Roseville City Council reduced the solid waste increase from the proposed 3% to 1.5%.  To see the newly approved solid waste utility rates,  click here.

The proposed rate increases will become effective with your August 2011 and July 2012 utility bills.

Background

Water Utility Service - The City of Roseville purchases, treats, and delivers approximately 11 billion gallons of water to customers each year. The Water Utility operates and maintains a water treatment plant, pipelines, pump stations, fire hydrants, storage reservoirs, wells and water meters. The proposed rate increase will provide funding to cover increased operational costs such as state and federal water treatment regulations, and continue to provide funds for renewal and replacement of infrastructure as it ages.

Solid Waste (Refuse) Utility Service - The City of Roseville operates a solid waste (refuse) collection service, green waste program, recycling programs and street sweeping services for the residents and businesses within city limits. The proposed rate increase will cover operational cost increases in fuel and vehicles and other regulatory costs. The increase will allow the City to continue to provide reliable curbside collection services, green waste services, street sweeping and recycling programs to its customers.

FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING WATER AND SOLID WASTE (REFUSE) SERVICE, PLEASE CALL (916) 774-5300.

Exceptions in services are as follows:

Some customers receive solid waste (refuse) and wastewater (sewer) services from the City of Roseville and water service from either the Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) or the San Juan Water District. If you receive a PCWA or San Juan Water District utility bill for your water, your water rate will not be affected by this action; however, your solid waste (refuse) and wastewater (sewer) utility rates will be impacted by the proposed adjustments in this notice.

The best way to determine who provides your utility services, which may be affected by this notice, is to review your utility bill(s).

Frequently Asked Questions

How will this proposal affect my monthly water, sewer and garbage bill?

The following chart reflects the monthly increase for a typical residential household using 1,900 cubic feet of water per month*:

	Water*	Wastewater**	Solid Waste***	Total
Current FY 10/11	$25.79	$29.00	$22.70	$77.49
Proposed FY 11/12	$28.22	$29.00	$23.05	$80.29
Proposed FY 12/13	$30.66	$29.00	$23.40	$83.04

***The proposed 2011 rate for residential solid waste customers would be a flat monthly rate for pick-up and disposal of the contents of two 90 gallon refuse containers (one for trash and one for green waste).

How do Roseville's residential utility rates compare to other cities in the region*?

When will the new rate go into effect?

The proposed utility rates for water, wastewater and refuse will go into effect August 2011 and July 2012.

When was the last rate adjustment and who approved it?

Rates for water, wastewater and refuse were approved to be increased in early 2009 by the Roseville City Council.

Why are the rates for my utilities being increased?

To continue the City of Roseville’s long tradition of providing reliable water and solid waste utility services to our customers, rate increases are needed to cover increasing operational costs. Some of the factors contributing to the increase in operational costs include:

- Water Supply. Purchased water costs continue to increase as the City’s demand for water exceeds its allocation from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation). To meet the additional demand, the City has contracted with Placer County Water Agency for additional raw water supplies. To use these options additional costs for water purchases, conveyance of water through Reclamation facilities (Folsom Dam), Water Forum environmental mitigation for non-Bureau water, and power used to deliver the water to Roseville are needed.

- Water quality and monitoring. Regulatory issues, testing services, treatment chemicals, and rising study costs.

- Regional integration and conjunctive use programs. Required system interties and wells necessitate additional water quality monitoring and special studies.

- Water Conservation mandate (Senate Bill 7) requires the states water purveyors to achieve a 20 percent reduction in urban per capita water use in California by December 31, 2020. The legislation also requires incremental progress towards this goal by reducing per capita water use by at least 10 percent on or before December 31, 2015. Compliance with this mandate will result in reduced water sales which equates to an overall reduction in the water utility’s revenue. Reduced water sales does not necessarily equate to reduced costs as one might expect. In reality, much of the water utility costs are fixed and cost savings realized by purchasing less water are more than offset by reduced revenue and the increased enforcement and public outreach needed in times of drought or state mandated water use reductions.

- Solid waste bins and cans. The solid waste utility rate increase reflects the need to prepare for replacement of aging equipment. A specific example is refuse bins, which typically have a 10-year warranty. Many bins and cans in the City's inventory have been in service for periods of up to 20 years. Replacement costs for bins is approximately $180,000, and $360,000 to replace cans. The alternative to gradual collection of incremental amounts to address future replacement needs would be an abrupt and steep future rate increase to meet immediate needs.

Note that on June 1, 2011, the City Council reduced the proposed 3% solid waste rate increase down to 1.5%.  Please click here to see the approved solid waste utility rates.

What has Environmental Utilities done to reduce their operating costs before asking for a rate increase?

The City of Roseville’s Environmental Utilities Department conducted a comprehensive line item review of our budgetary expenditures to maximize available resources before looking at possible utility rate increases. Some of the cost cutting measures that were implemented or scheduled to be implemented include:

- Reduction in materials, supplies, and services expense;

- Travel and training minimized to mission critical (ongoing practice);Reduced personnel requests (ongoing practice);

- Ensuring replacement funds for equipment match capital set aside for replacement reducing reliance on unencumbered resources (ongoing practice);

- Used in-house staff reducing the use of professional services contracts;Reduced fuel consumption by implementing an idling policy;

- Optimized refuse routes to maximize fuel usage efficiency;

- Installation of radio read water meters with replacement of older water meters. Meter readers can drive a truck through a neighborhood and gather meter reads by radio signal, rather than touch every meter with a reading wand. This saves labor costs and reduces worker injury rate;

- Environmental Utilities has moved forward with is the development of a system of Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) wells throughout the city. ASR technology allows for treated drinking water to be pumped into and stored the in the underground aquifer in times of plenty to be later used during water shortages or emergencies;

- Traditionally, replacing water and wastewater pipes involved digging up a sidewalk or a street and causing some disruption as a pipe or other piece of infrastructure is replaced. Taking advantage of the latest technology, Environmental Utilities has began to use a ‘slip-lining’ process that allows us to replace older piping with minimal digging, minimal traffic impact and at a lower cost than traditional replacement methods.

- The recycling revenue derived from recycling drop-off locations work to the benefit of utility customers. All revenue, about $400,000 per year, goes back into the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund to help keep solid waste rates low and maintain the services in place.

How do I protest the proposed rate adjustments?

The Roseville City Council will consider these proposed rate increases for utility services at a public hearing on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at the Roseville City Council Chambers located at 311 Vernon St., Roseville.

Under Proposition 218, if you are the owner of record of a parcel or parcels subject to the proposed rate increases you may submit a protest against any or all of the proposed rate increases by filing a written protest with the City Clerk at or before the time set for the public hearing. If written protest is filed by a majority of the affected parcel owners, the proposed rate increases will not be imposed. A written protest must contain a description of the parcel or parcels in which the party signing the protest has an interest, sufficient to identify the parcel(s). If the party signing the protest is not shown on the last equalized assessment roll of Placer County as the owner of the parcel(s), the protest must contain, or be accompanied by, written evidence that such party is the owner of the parcel(s). Protests should also indicate which proposed utility service rate(s) adjustment is being protested (water and/or solid waste (refuse)).

Protests regarding the proposed rate increases may be mailed to: City of Roseville, City Clerk, 311 Vernon St, Roseville, CA 95678. Protests may also be personally delivered to the City Clerk.