2004-02-17 - Laserfiche WebLink

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6 City. He said he will not support a tax reduction this year. He asked if Virginia First Cities has a lobbyist. Ms. Richards said First Cities has a lobbyist and signif icant accomplishments have been made. REPORT : WATER SUPPLY Mr. Mike Gaffney, Chairman of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, reviewed the water facilities available in urban and rural areas, treatment capacities and raw water supply. Mr. Gaffney sa id that in October of 2002 the Board of Directors of RWSA approved a strategy that called for: take a watershed approach; generate better data for decisions; water conservation by ACSA and the City; add four foot crest controls on the South Fork Rivanna R eservoir; maintain downstream streamflow releases and match during critical droughts; improved water system management and drought prediction; perform maintenance dredging on the South Fork Reservoir; and expand water sources to include the Mechums River. He said the strategy was to provide enough safe yield to supply demand up to the year 2030. In the fall of 2003, the permit application process was started toward implementing the strategy. Mr. Lynch said he is a little disappointed with the progress being made and asked when we are likely to see projects. Mr. Lonnie Wood, Acting Director of RWSA, said new data had to be put into the model for the crest control. He said some projects are dependent on VDOT. He said they are moving forward with the Moore's Creek design. Responding to a question from Mr. Lynch, Mr. Wood said that the bonds were not issued this year and the City's share of the budget will go down next year. Mr. Caravati asked at what point do we decide to do something else with Buc k Mountain. Mr. Gaffney said Buck Mountain could be used for something such as recreation, but he feels it should be held as insurance for the future. Mr. Schilling said it is important to understand the ramifications of holding Buck Mountain as an ins urance policy and feels a cost benefit analysis should be done. He said it could be utilized in its present form or others. REPORT : WATER RATE STRUCTURE Mr. O'Connell said that a report on water rate structure options was presented to Council in Octo ber and Council held a work session in November. He said the water rates have to be finalized in June and staff needs guidance on the various options. Ms. Rita Scott, Director of Finance, said that three recommendations are being made for Council's cons ideration. She said that the prevailing sentiment at the November work session appears to be for a seasonable rate structure, with a 30% differential and rate higher from May through September. She said they would be designed to level out over the year. Secondly, a rate stabilization reserve could be created to use to level out large rate increases or to fund one time needs. Last, the toilet rebate program is recommended to be increased by an additional $50,000 as it is seen as the single most effective conservation effort for the City. It is recommended to be expanded to include multi - family and commercial customers. Ms. Richards asked what is to prevent having to increase rates to cover costs if people cut back on their usage in the summer with seas onable rates. She asked if the proposed reserve is designed to fund this. Ms. Scott said the fund is designed to build up over several years and could supplement the cost over a few years.