Myra
|
Thank you Wilma, Ed and Chuck for your responses...and to
those of you who chose to contact the WCC directly.
(Ed and Chucks responses are on this website under
"How do we fix it?", Oct. 7 & 16.
Wilma's response is just below this
article.)
We would love to answer each question and address each
concern, but our response would need to be about 30-40 pages long!
...boring! ...zzzzzzz ... so, for now, we will start with the most
common asked question and concern.
Please try to remember everything we are presenting here
is just part of the beginnings of our research. None of this is written
in stone and we are still looking for feedback.
There seems to be a concern and/or belief that if we get
water meters:
1) Our rates would go up.
2) Our water bill would no longer be paid as a budgeted
item in our TAD's, therefore assessing ourselves more money.
Wrong & Wrong
The Santa Cruz City Water Dept. would continue to read
our two meters at the front of the park and send those two bills to our
park office...just as they always have. The water dept has no interest
in reading our meters individually (which would hike the price up
considerably) and they are quite pleased to know that PPMC is looking
into the possibility of sub metering our park.
Several studies have been done on sub metering situations
like ours and have proved that once each individual is responsible for
their own water use, water consumption is reduced an average of
20%-30%... even as much as 40% in some cases!
PPMC would continue to be billed at the same rate as
usual. Our current rate is $4.86 per unit of water. This water rate has
been in effect since the beginning of 2008.
A "unit" of water is 100 cubic feet, or a little easier
to put into perspective, 1 unit = 748 gallons of water.
Using our PPMC 2008 & 2009 water bills for our example,
PPMC, "on average" is billed for a about 1,128,576 gallons
...YUP...over a million gallons per month! (1,509 units @ $4.86 = $7,334
per month) Divide that by 391 allotments = $18.76 per allotment, per
month. There is also an additional fee called a "ready to serve
charge". This costs us a flat rate of $634.18 per month, divide by 391 =
$1.62.
The water + the ready to serve charge = $20.38, per
allotment, per month. (on average)
The annual average (2008 & 2009) total water bill for our
park = $95,602.89.
All PPMC members are billed through our TAD's and pay an
equal share of the annual water bill amount = about $245 per year, per
allotment. Yes, that is quite a bargain! ...although there are a few
variables to consider:
1) If we were to sub meter our park, this amount could
come down by 20% - 30%...we could possibly use the savings, or at least
some of it, to pay for the meters and their installation.
2) The meters would allow us to divi up the bill
proportionately based on each allotments actual use.
3) We also have to consider the added expense of reading
the meters and the added labor for billing. We are looking into the pros
and cons of reading the meters as little as twice a year, once every
quarter or as often as every other month. So far, there doesn't seem to
be any big advantage to reading the meters every month. This "billing"
would still be part of our TAD's.
4) Is $245 per allotment, per year REALLY a bargain?
We don't know how many people this amount of water is servicing. Santa
Cruz City Water Dept. says the average use of water per person, per day
is 60 gallons....more on this later...
We still have a lot of questions to tackle, but for now
this should give us something to think about on.
|
October 5, 2009
Wilma Vinson
In response to Mable's request for feedback on the water meters. Where will all the money go from our T.A.Ds.? When we came into the Park the T.A.D.S covered Water and Garbage. What happened? My garbage was collected today for the first time in three weeks because of the container not being sturdy enough to keep the Raccoons from going off with it. Sometimes it is in my back yard and sometimes it is in my neighbors yard, sometimes it is all over my sidewalk. My husband made a wonderful container for our garbage that was critter proof and I can't use it ,the same with the neighbor across the street. Are we going to have to dig up the streets to install meters for water? Just a few questions.
Wilma Vinson
October 4, 2009
