HomeMy WebLinkAboutAmend Chapter 17, Regarding Public Protection Service CostsORDINANCE No.
9315-02
Passed by the Common Council of the Ciry of South Bend, Indiana
March 25,
Attest:
Attest:
Gam.
20 02
City Clerk
President of Common Council
Presented by me to the Mayor of t{te City of Soutli Bend, Indiana
Marsh 25, 20 -02
A J.
• /~ Ciry Clerk
Approved and signed by me March 26, 20 02
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ORDINANCE NO. ~ 3 ~ S' d
AN ORDINANCE OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND,
INDIANA AMENDING CHAPTER 17 OF THE SOUTH BEND MUNICIPAL CODE
REGARDING PUBLIC FIRE PROTECTION SERVICE COSTS
STATE OF PURPOSE AND INTENT
The City of South Bend owns and operates a water utility providing service, including public
fire protection service, inside and outside the municipality.
Pursuant to Indiana Code 8-1-2-103 (d) and (f), this Council may, by ordinance, require that
the costs of providing water for public fire protection purposes shall be recovered through the basic
rates of all customers of the utility within the City and all customers of the utility outside the City
whose property is located within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant.
Upon the adoption of such an ordinance, Ind. Code 8-1-2-103 (d) requires that fire protection
charges billed directly to governmental units through monthly hydrant charges be eliminated.
This Council has determined that it is appropriate to adopt an ordinance pursuant to I.C. 8-1-
2-103 (d) and (f).
The rates and charges set forth in this Ordinance have been calculated and recommended by
Crowe Chizek, a financial consultant to the City of South Bend Board of Public Works.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, THAT:
Section I. The City of South Bend hereby adopts this Ordinance providing that all costs
incurred for the production, storage, transmission, sale and delivery, and furnishing of water for
public fire protection services shall be recovered in accordance with I.C. 8-1-2-103 9d) and (f).
Section II. The cost of construction of any fire hydrant requested by the City and installed
after the effective date of this Ordinance shall be paid by the City.
Section III. Chapter 17, Article 4, Section 17-45 ofthe South Bend Municipal Code shall
be and hereby is amended to delete subpart "d" in its entirety (Fire Protection Services, Hydrants),
and to replace such subsection with the following:
(d) Public Fire Protection Charges. All customers located within the
corporate limits and all customers outside the corporate limits and
located within 1 000 feet of a public fire hydrant shall also paw
monthly public fire protection charge based upon the size of the
customer's meter as follows;
5/8" connection 1.85
3/4" connection 1.85
1" connection 4.74
1 %" connection 10.66
2" connection 18.94
3" connection 42.62
4" connection 75.78
6" connection 170.50
8" connection 303.10
10" connection 473.60
Section IV. This Ordinance shall take effect after its passage by the Common Council, approval
by the Mayor, and to the extent of approval by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
~~ ~~
( `C'L`
Member, South Bend Commo Council
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1st P.EADlNG 3
PU6LIC NEARING 3~~-S'~Z
3 rd READING '3-Z S'o ~
NOT APPROVED
REfERF.ED
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COMMITTEE REPORT
TO THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND:
Your Committee of the Whole, to whom was referred:
BILL NO.
17-02 A BILL OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND,
INDIANA AMENDING CHAPTER 17 OF THE SOUTH BEND MUNICIPAL
CODE REGARDING PUBLIC FIRE PROTECTION SERVICE COSTS
Respectfully report that they have examined the matter and that in their opinion, this bill
is being recommended to the full Council with a favorable recommendation.
Karl King
Chairman
SOUTH BEND MUNICIl'AL WATER UTILITY
South Bend, Indiana
Calculation of Monthly Fire Protection Charges
Calculation of Total Equivalent Meters
Meter
Size
5/8 inch
3/4 inch
1 inch
11/2 inch
2 inch
3 inch
4 inch
6 inch
8 inch
10 inch
Number
of
Customers
34,882
2,599
2,940
365
487
113
102
24
2
1
Meter
Equivalency
Factor
1.00
1.00
2.56
5.76
10.24
23.04
40.9b
92.16
163.84
256.00
Totals
41,515
Calculation of Monthly Charge for 5/8 Inch Meter
Current Annual Public Fire Protection Revenues
Divide by: Total Equivalent Meters
Annual Fire Protection Charge
Divide by: Twelve Months
Monthly Fire Protection Charge for 5/8" Meter
SOUTH BEND MUNICIl'AL WATER UTILITY
South Bend, Indiana
Total
Equivalent
Meters
34,882
2,599
7,526
2,102
4,987
2,604
4,178
2,212
328
256
61,674
$ 1,367,272
61,674
22.17
12
$ 1.85
Calculation of Monthly Fire Protection Charges
(Continued)
Calculation of Monthly Fire Protection Charges
Monthly Meter
Meter Charge for Equivalency
Size 5 8" Meter Factor
5/8 inch $ 1.85 1.00
3/4 inch 1.85 1.00
1 inch 1.85 2.56
11/2 inch 1.85 5.76
2 inch 1.85 10.24
3 inch 1.85 23.04
4 inch 1.85 40.96
6 inch 1.85 92.16
8 inch 1.85 163.84
10 inch 1.85 256.00
Monthly Fire
Protection
~?
1.85
1.85
4.74
10.66
18.94
42.62
75.78
170.50
303.10
473.60
1316 COUNTY-CITY BUILDING
227 W. JEFFERSON BOULEVARD
SOUTH BEND, INDIANA 46601-1830
CITY OF SOUTH BEND STEPHEN J. LUECKE~ MAYOR
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLICWORKS
GARY A. GILOT~ P.E.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS
March 5, 2002
City Council President Roland Kelly
City Council
4`'' Floor, County-City Building
South Bend, Indiana 46601
PHONE 219/235-9251
Fax 219/235-9171
TDD 219/235-5567
RE: Ordinance Transferring Public Fire Protection from the Property Tax Bill to the Water Bill
Dear President Kelly:
The South Bend Water Works provides water supply for potable drinking water, process
water to support business and industry, water for lawn sprinkling and other forms of irrigation, and
for public fire protection. It has been the trend in the industry that fire hydrant rental for public fire
protection be moved from a governmental tax supported service to a water rate supported service.
The General Assembly provided statutory authority for this several years ago. The Indiana Utility
Regulatory Commission (IURC) provided for an abbreviated rate case that was expressly for this
purpose with a very narrowly defined formula on how to do such a revenue neutral rate case
transferring the costs of Public Fire Protection from the property tax payer to the water rate payer.
The attached Ordinance would enact a water service fee for public fire protection. The term
"fire hydrant rental" is actually a bit of a misnomer since what is really covered in this cost in this
rental rate is the cost to pump the water from the ground, put it into storage facilities, and push it out
into the distribution system at adequate flows and pressures to meet the Fire Department's needs.
The Fire Department is a critical element of the City maintaining its ISO Rating. Likewise, the
public fire protection system is critical to that ISO Rating. The storage tanks, the high service
pumps, hydrants at appropriate spacing and other appurtenances necessary to produce adequate flow
and pressure to fight fires are essential to our ISO rating and therefore, to people's property fire
insurance premiums. Nothing in this Ordinance would do anything to adversely affect the high level
of service that the people of South Bend have come to enjoy. We are only changing from a tax to
a user fee.
ENGINEERING ENVIItONMENTAL SERVICES CENTRAL SERVICES STREETS WATER WORKS
CARL LrrrRELL, P.E. JOHN J. DILLON, PH.D. MATT CHLEBOWSKI SAM HENSLEY JOHN F. STANCATI
219/235-9251 219/277-8515 219/235-9316 219/235-9244 219/235-9322
Fax 219/235-9171 Fax 219/277-8980 Fax 219/235-9007 Fax 219/235-9272 Fax 219/235-9728
Page Two
March 7, 2002
You will note in the rate case that a typical water residential customer on a 5/8" or 3/4" meter
would see a $1.85 per month charge for public fire protection. This would be charged to all water
customers within the city or within 1,000 feet of a hydrant for water customers outside the corporate
limits per statute. The impact on the Civil City General Fund budget would be approximately $1.2
million per year.
The Mayor has indicated that in the short term these funds present opportunities and stabilize
serious shortfalls in funding for local roads and streets. In 2002 and 2003 we can use these funds
to preserve and maintain streets through our Comprehensive Pavement Rehabilitation (CPR) Paving
Program and come up with the 20 percent match money necessary to get our fair share of federal tax
dollars back for Transportation Improvement Program Capital Projects. In the long term, these
general fund dollars may be necessary for us to meet our public safety obligations.
We look forward to being present to answer any questions that you might have on this
Ordinance.
Sincerely,
~iti~;~ ~,
i~-~~
Gary A. Gilot, P.E.
Public Works Director
Attachments
Mayor Steve Luecke
Common Council Members
Gary/hydrant ordinance.wpd