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