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264 in other areas. Chair Vanderwall opined that it would be interesting to see if there 265 was a way to perform such an analysis in the future — beyond 2014; and 266 questioned if it would be onerous for staff time to verify that concept. In general, 267 Chair Vanderwall noted that the PWETC would like to see the community 268 responsible in its use of water. 269 270 Member DeBenedet opined that water usage was not linear based on the number 271 of people in the home; with the key to incent efficiencies, whether for irrigation, 272 car washing, dishwasher or laundry uses. Member DeBenedet further opined that 273 setting up a system to recognize people in certain h I es rather than others could 274 prove highly problematic, and raise havoc with intern efficiencies for the City 275 causing personnel and operating costs to go up anyway. Since the PWETC's 276 recommendation to the City Council in the past, Member DeBenedet advised that 277 he had then seen Mr. Miller's memorandum to the City Council outlining areas 278 that had not come to the decision - making of the PWETC in making their 279 recommendation, basically parallel to the points brought up by Mr. Miller in this 280 memorandum. Member DeBenedet opined that the two - tiered 4ructure remain in 281 place, while consideration could be given to the break point for gallons used per 282 quarter. However, at this point without additional information on usalp impacts 283 from the one tier to the two tier structure system, or whether a household 284 decreased or increased in size, Member DeBenedet questioned if there was any 285 obvious rationale in making a change. At this point, Member DeBenedet 286 suggested stayi with staff s recommendation to leave the rate structure as is. 287 288 While also speaking e next senior discount program, Member DeBenedet 289 observed that a senior could get a double bonus and benefit from the lowest tier 290 structure as well as receiving the senior discount. Member DeBenedet stated that 291 he agreed with some media discussions that questioned whether a senior should 292 receive a special, reduced rate, while others who may have more of a financial 293 need were forced to subsidize those senior rate reductions. 294 295 Chair Vanderwall advised that, while this required further discussion when not 296 faced with the budget time constraints, for the time being the PWETC supported 297 staff s recommendation to leave the water rate tiered structure as is for 2014. 298 299 Utility Bill Senior Discount Program 300 Mr. Miller briefly summarized this program as detailed in his memorandum; and 301 existence since at least 1970 when the City passed an ordinance to encourage 302 homeowners to abandon their private wells and septic systems and connect to the 303 municipal system. Mr. Miller noted action by the City Council in 2004 to expand 304 the program to include single - family homeowners meeting federal poverty 305 guideline criteria. While it may be a hardship for retired homeowners to pay full 306 water /sewer rates, Mr. Miller noted that there was no financial means testing 307 performed to justify this, only an assumption that if you're retired and on a fixed 308 income, you get a break. Now that the program is expanded beyond that, Mr. 309 Miller noted that currently 25% of all single - family homeowners receive that Page 7 of 22