City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: APRIL 11, 2017
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Public Hearing on an Ordinance to Bring the Sewer Line Maintenance Charge Set Forth Therein into Conformity with the Previously Adopted Resolution Setting the Fee at $1.82 per 1,000 Gallons of Water Supplied. (Adoption is Scheduled for Thursday, May 4, 2017.)
BODY
ISSUE: Consideration of an ordinance to increase the sanitary sewer line maintenance charge from $1.40 to $1.82 per 1,000 gallons of water.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council will hold a public hearing on Saturday, April 22 and second reading and final passage on Thursday, May 4. The new fee will be effective July 1, 2017.
BACKGROUND: The sanitary sewer line maintenance charge (i.e. usage fee) was established to assist in recovering the costs of maintaining, inspecting and improving public sanitary sewer facilities in the City. During the FY 2004 budget process, staff outlined a proposal to begin a multi-year plan to increase the City's sanitary sewer fee so that the sanitary sewer costs are fully recovered from fees and other outside sources. Since then, the fees continue to cover the full costs, with the last increase in fees in FY 2017, when the fee increased from $1.25 to $1.40 per 1,000 gallons used.
DISCUSSION: The balanced sanitary sewers ten-year plan proposes a 30% rate increase in
FY 2018 to a Sewer Line Maintenance Fee of $1.82 per 1,000 gallons. The FY 2018 increase will allow the City to begin to respond recent State legislation being considered by the General Assembly and the Governor to greatly accelerate the timing requirements for the City's four combined sewer outfall (CSO) improvements. Because of this likely legislation on CSO improvements which are estimated to cost up to $400 million it is projected that the City's portion of the sanitary sewer rates will climb some 500% ov...
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