10-28-19 Public Works and Property Vacation

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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK Committeemember Jo M. Broden made a motion to send Bill No. 19-66 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation.The motion was seconded by Committeemember Sharon McBride and carried with a voice vote of three(3) ayes. Bill No. 50-19- Establishing a Wastewater Low Income Customer Assistance Program Eric Horvath, Director of Public Works for the City of South Bend with offices on the 13th floor of this building stated, I would like to thank Sharon McBride and Karen White as participants of the Committee who put together an ordinance that ends up being an assistance program of our waste water customers and specifically, for our low income customers. There are two (2) primary drivers in this. First (1St), is just that water and sewer are essential human services and should be provided for all. Secondly (2nd), we have a significant population that at times has difficulty deciding between paying their utility bills or paying their rent or putting food on the table. So, recognizing those issues,we thought it would be important to try to find a way for people with low income qualification to have a credit on their sewer bill. So, the State Code changed about a year ago with the enactment of SEA-416, which allowed for financial relief for income qualified customers. As a result of that, the ordinance in front of you has three (3) tiers of credits. So, we have a dollar seventy-five ($1.75) charged to all customers that will go into a separate fund. That fund will then be utilized then to support those three (3) tiers. The first (1St) tier is if you meet an income qualification of one hundred percent (100%) of the sixty percent (60%) of State median income, then you will get an eleven-dollar seventy-five cent($11.75) credit on your sewer bill. If you meet seventy-five percent(75%)of that sixty percent(60%)of State median income, you will receive a fifteen-dollar seventy-five cent ($15.75) credit. If you meet fifty percent (50%) of that sixty percent(60%)State median income,you'll receive a twenty-dollar seventy-five cent($20.75) credit. As we mentioned before, the income qualification will be through Real Services. They're already doing this work through the Energy Assistance Program. So, we're going to tag onto that so that we don't have to duplicate efforts and have additional FTE (full-time employee)resources for this program. So, in a nutshell, that's the program and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you. Committee Chair John Voorde asked, Is the power point presentation that we've seen a few times already online or could it be online if it's not? Mr. Horvath stated, Yes. It can be for sure. That's no problem at all. I think there are two separate presentations. I think there's one already online, and I'm not sure if this one is on there already, but we would make sure that this one goes online as well. Councilmember Jake Teshka asked, Mr. Horvath, I guess the catalyst for this was during our discussion about a storm water fee. Certain Councilmembers asked that we do something in terms of lifeline rates to help the lower income residents of our City. So, I just wanted to point that out, and by all means to say thank you and to Ms. Boyles for finding a way to make this pencil out. I did want to give some of those Councilmember credit for making it happen. Committee Chair John Voorde opened the meeting to anyone from the public wishing to speak either in favor or opposition to Bill No. 50-19. Seeing none, Committee Chair John Voorde made a motion to send Bill No. 50-19 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. The motion was seconded by committeemember Jo M. Broden and carried with a voice vote of three(3) ayes. EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION ! EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson BvldSouth Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 I 10574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 2