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446 customers, and shifted more to the commercial side than the City of Roseville did. 447 However, Mr. Miller noted that the City of Edina's tax base was also bigger and 448 stronger than that of Roseville even though per capita Roseville was pretty good, 449 Edina had more residential and commercial/retail customers by comparison. To 450 their credit, Mr. Miller recognized that the City of Edina had a strong reputation as 451 a pretty well-run city. 452 453 Member Seigler asked if the City Council had ever said no to a rate increase 454 recommended by staff. 455 456 Mr. Miller responded that in certain areas they certainly had, perhaps not a 457 definitive "no" to any increase but had chosen relief to various utility funds. Mr. 458 Miller advised that staff s goal was to work in concert with the City Council, and 459 clarified that everyone, whether Councilmembers, advisory commissioners, 460 residents or retail/commercial business owners were very well aware at this point 461 of the long-term CIP needs in Roseville'. Mr. Miller noted it was staffs role to 462 provide them with sufficient details, and generally the City Council and staff were 463 on the same page based on ongoing analyses and without many surprises. Mr. 464 Miller opined CouncilmVers d taxpayers were very well informed Roseville 465 of utility operations. """'��IIIIIII�III!&ustomer 466 467 Member Wozniak askedler to talk inquiries it typically 468 fielded about rates, complaints,or questions, residential or commercial, and whether 469 most residents appeared to be happy with this current rate structure. 470 471 Mr. Miller responded that staff heard little from retail/commercial customers 472 beyond asking for rate projections for the next year as they work on their budgets. 473 11111l06A&idhkhl 474 7education. ential customers, Mr. Miller reported that they typically paid a lot of 475 o their utility bills and noticed any rate differences despite advanced 476 Mr. Miller advised that it was typical for staff to be flooded with phone 477 "°��rglls at the beginning of their billing year, and staff walked them through, with the 478 result that sometimes they felt that rationale was reasonable and other times not. 479 Mr. Miller admitted that staff often dealt with a lot of difficult customers, but 480 opined it came with the job, and staff tried to stay patient. Sometimes, Mr. Miller 481 reported, it was necessary for tempers to cool and a follow-up phone call was made 482 by staff to a customer for further review. Mr. Miller stated that most residents 483 noticed any fluctuation in their utility bill, projecting them even noticing the 484 proposed 2016 rate of only 80 cents/month at 1.5%, while some typically don't. 485 Mr. Miller noted it was no secret that there were a fair number of retirees in 486 Roseville, and they followed their utility bills very closely. 487 488 Member Lenz referenced the senior discount for water utilities, and questioned 489 whether or not that program had been discontinued (page 5 of Miller 490 memorandum). 491 Page 11 of 18