Published By: Financial Services
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Rate Fairness Board
MINUTES
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Room 421, City Hall
Members
Bobbrie Brown. Chair
Howard Ash, Vice Chair
Todd Rydstrom, for Edward Harrington
Ben Rosenfield, for Ed Lee
Nadia Sesay
Vacancy
Vacancy
- Call to Order and Roll Call
Bobbrie Brown was not present at onset of the meeting and in her absence Howard Ash acted as Chair and called the Rate Fairness Board meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. and roll call was taken. Present: Howard Ash, Linda Yeung for Ed Harrington, Ed Lee and Nadia Sesay; there was a quorum. Bobbrie Brown arrived at 4:40 p.m.
- Public comment on items within the Board's jurisdiction but not on the agenda
Member of the public, Joan Girardot from the Coalition for SF Neighborhoods, proposed an agenda item for a future meeting regarding wholesale customers paying back retail customers as bond projects come on line. Ms. Girardot requested a presentation from PUC Finance to show historical examples of how retail rates go down once the suburban customers begin paying their share of capital projects.
- Discussion and possible action to approve minutes of February 14, 2007 meeting.
Ed Lee motioned to approve minutes from the February 14, 2007 meeting with Ms. Yeung’s changes. Ms. Sesay seconded the motion and approval was unanimous.
- Discussion of ongoing Board business
Karol Ostberg, SFPUC Acting Director of Capital Finance, reviewed the schedule of meetings with the Board. She explained that the Board could make its presentation to the Commission on April 24. Mr. Ash was concerned about timing and suggested an additional meeting date, aside from the meeting scheduled for April 11, to review the staff report and also come to consensus on the Board’s report. A meeting date was set for April 18 and the location will be the Controller’s Office Conference Room.
Ms. Ostberg explained how the rate presentation meetings at the various community groups are scheduled. Letters go out to all community organizations the PUC has on file with a request that the PUC be added to a meeting agenda to present the new rate proposal. Each letter is followed by phone calls, as necessary. The PUC attends all meetings where groups have responded and request the rate presentation.
Mr. Lee requested information on the geographical distribution of the meetings through out the City, as well as information on efforts made to present at non-English meetings. Ms. Ostberg confirmed that Spanish and Chinese are among the languages on the current flyers and the website.
- Discussion regarding Draft Staff Rate Report
Ms. Yeung submitted suggested corrections of the PUC’s Draft Report on Water and Wastewater Rates for Fiscal 2008-2009. Mr. Ash submitted his corrections and questions to the PUC staff as well. Mr. Lee requested that a list of conservation programs be added to the report so the public can see the staff’s position on conservation. There was extensive discussion regarding the final report and necessary edits. PUC staff confirmed that the report would be revised with the submitted edit requests in mind.
Chair Brown noted an article in the San Francisco Sentinel newspaper, which showed the proposed increase in water and wastewater rates in ‘08 and ’09. The article stated that PUC customers would see a greater than 15% increase in water rates and a 9% increase in wastewater rates. The PUC staff discussed sending a correction request to the Sentinel editor as the article misrepresented the proposed increases.
Ms. Girardot commented the City is not serious about conservation and believes that the Department of Recreation and Parks should be targeted to conserve. Ms. Girardot added that the inclining block rate structure is only fair if every unit has its own meter, which they do not. She added that the public is ill served by having two vacancies on the RFB. Ms. Girardot stated that the average SF homeowner is having a difficult time with the cost of water. She then requested to see projections on the capacity charge revenue.
Mr. Emeric Kalman requested a study to analyze and compare costs of water on the East and West side of the City. Mr. Kalman suggested that DBI and the Planning Commission mandate that all new developments, including multi unit buildings, be individually metered for water.
Mr. David Pilpel stated that he would favor tiered rate structure for multifamily Water users since we have the number of units per account. Mr. Pilpel requested that language be inserted into the report to explain the inflation factor and calculations for miscellaneous fees. He asked if this explanation along with the water and wastewater capacity charge would warrant an annual adjustment.
- Discussion regarding Draft Board Report
Mr. Ash solicited feedback from the Board members on what form their report should take. RFB members agreed the report should be short and direct. Mr. Ash confirmed that he is in support of the rates objectives, but feels there needs to be further discussion about the difference in tiers and individual metering. Mr. Ash also expressed his concern about multi-family tiered pricing and believes there are inconsistencies between the water and wastewater tiered rates. Ms. Ostberg confirmed that staff is at a disadvantage due to lack of data for wastewater usage. Once staff has more data they will know whether the tiered structure works or doesn’t. Mr. Ash requested that the report reflect that studies with timelines will be done to analyze the effect of tired rates on wastewater usage.
Ms. Girardot requested that the RFB report include requests for every unit to have individual metering. She then reiterated the importance that the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors fill the two Board member vacancies. Ms. Girardot asked the Board to reject the inclining block rates and requested that the final report not be adopted until after a Public Hearing.
Mr. Kalman stated that the existing customers who have paid and maintained the current system should not be punished.
Mr. Pilpel stated that prior to the RFB report being finalized, the Board should hear public comment at the public hearing on April 11th.
- Discussion regarding new Board business
The Board confirmed that the Board report will be drafted and the staff report will be revised per the submitted recommendations.
There was no public comment at this time.
- Adjournment
On behalf of Chair Brown, Mr. Ash adjourned the meeting at 6:14 p.m.
