11-25-13 Common Council Meeting Minutes

Home Browse Search

REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 25,2013 these other projects that are huge projects that are 40 million dollar tanks there are large interceptors that we have to build and we are saying before we do that let's get some smart and make sure that we have the right data so that we recalibrate the model based on the M-Net system that we have in place and these hundreds of monitors that we've got in our system we now have better data than we ever had,because we are reading the flow and level of sewers every five (5) minutes. And so, we can tell on certain rain events, we've got 9 different rain gauges throughout the city, we can tell what that flow should be and so that will help us zone in on how much flow we really need to control. So that we don't built a tank that is extra-large in hopes that we are going to capture it all and spend 40 million dollars on a tank that we only need to spend 30 million dollars on. So the next phase this coming this year will be recalibrating the model,make sure that we know what types of flows we really need to capture and then looking at what is the best solution based on that. Are there green infrastructure solutions that we could put in place that will take some of that flow off of the system,maybe provide a community benefit and allow us to make a much smaller tank and a much small interceptor sewer and so that will be the next phase that we will do before we jump into Phase II projects. This is the remaining capital costs we've talked about this that we are fighting inflation as we move forward, so that it is something that we want to keep in mind that construction costs haven't gone down they continue to rise so we need to pursue this pretty aggressively and try to get some of these projects sooner rather than later. This is the cost of living index (referring to the Power Point) that we shared before just to show that we are currently very, very competitive in terms of utility rates as a whole in South Bend and this is something that is important for us to stay competitive and that's what I think is everyone's fear is that we don't want to get to the point where we are no longer competitive and nobody wants to develop here because it's just not a good place to develop. So from and Economic Development standpoint this is something that we need to continue to look at as how do we keep that utility cost of living index down. Here is a quick comparison (referring to the power point) of where were currently are you can see these are all of the cities and towns populations over 25,000 in the State of Indiana. South Bend's combined rate is $55 per month and we've got about 22 of the communities that are higher than us and about 13 that are lower. We are roughly in the middle of the pact for rates right now. So here is our goal for the rate increase is to keep something over the next four(4) years is fairly consistent in terms of average dollar amount per year increase, and so we are looking at a 9%per year that will help us meet these regulatory requirements we have and meet the stipulated dates that we have in the consent decree and stay financially sound. I think in addition to meeting regulatory requirements we've said we believe this is the right thing to do. This is you know tough choices nobody wants to see rates go up and I here that loud and clearly. But I think tough choices now mean lower rates later. I think if you look at the numbers it will show that and so I think it takes some courage that we need to step up and increase the rates to meet the needs of not only this consent decree but really of our rate payers who are having sewage back up in their basement and trying to meet the environmental health of the rivers and keep this as an asset for us. I think punting means mean the burden on future generations and so that's why we are looking at trying to move this plan forward aggressively now. Here's where we will be in the next four(4)years given the rate increased that we have proposed (referring to the power point) and this is showing us in relation to all other communities above 25,000 and where they currently are. So this is assuming that none of these individuals have rate increases other than South Bend, Indiana, and we know already that Evansville census data just implemented a 32% for next year; 8% for the following year and 18% for the year after that. Many others are looking at them as well. So I think that I will probably just wrap up, I don't think that I have anything else, I think that I have covered all this. But I am happy to take any questions that you have, and I've also have Jennifer Wilson here with me as well, with Crowe Horwath, who has done our rate analysis and if there are any detailed questions on rates or how we came to those she would be happy to answer them as well. Chairperson White: I am going to go down the row and ask Councilmember's if you have any questions pertaining to bill 64-13, comments that you would like to make in general can be made after the public hearing. Councilmember Oliver Davis: Thank you Mr. Horvath for your presentation. In your phases, could you please, I have a couple of questions I have Councilmember White. Could you please share with us in some more detail regarding your short and long-term plan that is in place to widen and increase users that are currently on our system? As we talked this afternoon if we are very serious about doing this and increasing our user's capacity it would help us in terms of the 6