City Selling Services: Minneapolis Water and Sewer Utility Rate Structure (((((((RE: [Mpls] Competency test for 3rd Ward Candidates - and other office holders Victoria Heller Wed Dec 11 10:00:01 2002 These questions are based on the 2003 Budget that was distributed at the Truth in Taxation hearing on Monday. Question 1 The City plans to collect $329.4 million from selling services (primarily water) and $158.6 million from property taxes. Do you think it would be more honest to sell water "at cost" and double property taxes - so taxpayers would know how much it really costs to run the City?))))))
Though I am not a candidate for elective office, I will take a whack at one of the questions posed by Ms. Heller: I think it is absolutely honest for the Mayor and City Council to allocate increases in the costs for water-sewer services to the rate structure funding those services. The volunteer citizen appointees (33 authorized positions) to the Capital Long-range Improvements Committee looked hard at the proposed water, sewer, and combined rates developed as part of the annual capital budgeting process. The rate structure developed by the committee with technical assistance from the Executive Secretary Mr. Abeln was included in the July 2002 recommendation to the Mayor and City Council. The biggest change in the combined rate structure contained in the city's budget document (page 44 of 68) on the web compared with CLIC's recommendation appears to be an increase of 3.3% for 2007 rather than 2.3%. It appears to some CLIC members that to some extent rate increases for needed capital infrastructure improvements were put off in the c.1980's, resulting in this generation having to step up to upgrade or replace the WPA-era water works facilities. By far the largest single project in the water program is "WTR09 Ultrafiltration Program" that entails an expenditure of $133,460,000 from 2003-2007 and constitutes over 50% of the total water program. The sewer program is projected as $63 million and the water program is projected as $215 million in the 5-year capital program. I argue that the Mayor and City Council have been honest with the ratepayers and taxpayers of the city in properly attributing these capital costs to the sectors of services provided, namely water and sewer. The proposed ultrafiltration program went through extensive advisory and scientific review and testing. The program was judged necessary to protect the city's potable water supply drawn from surface waters, since it is not feasible for a number of reasons for the city to obtain its water supply from wells. See the 2002 water customer report: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/water/ Some funding changes took place in the Library and Park Board sectors of the capital program. The capital budget requests submitted by departments and agencies for 2003-2007 totaled $654.2 million. If I am not mistaken, the Mayor recommended 5-year capital program showed a total increase of $966,000 (+.2%) to $577,341,000 from the CLIC recommended amount of $576,375,000. The public and neighborhood organizations were given notice and an opportunity to comment on the program about mid-year through a joint Planning Commission-CLIC public hearing. Mayor Rybak introduced a constructive innovation this past year through inclusion of Council President Ostrow, Ways and Means Chair Johnson, and Council Member Lane in the July review of CLIC recommendations. The capital budgeting process is an open process. Persons interested in service on CLIC should refer to the city's web site on opportunities for open appointments from the Mayor and Council Members. Jeffrey L. Strand Shingle Creek 4th Ward CLIC Appointee _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
