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Roseville Finance Commission Agenda Item Page 9 of 12 As the graph indicates, over the past eight years the average overall usage + captured volume of water for single-family homes in the summertime ranged from 31,000 gallons per quarter to 39,000. What is clearly evidenced by the data, summertime consumption patterns are directly influenced by rainfall amounts. Clearly, customers reduced their summertime consumption during heavier rainfall periods. Changes in water usage fees didn’t seem to be a factor on how much water was used. Once again, it appears that customers are making a conscious decision to maintain an established standard – in this case a healthy lawn and garden while remaining mindful of the tenets of water conservation. The bottom line is that single-family summertime water consumption has dropped by 29% since 2009. Rate Comparisons The graphs below depict a number of water and sewer rate comparisons with other peer communities. For this analysis, peer communities include 1st ring suburbs that serve a population between 18,000 and 50,000, and which are not simply an extension of a larger entity’s system (e.g. Maplewood is excluded because they’re part of St. Paul’s system). This group was selected to try and approximate cities with stand-alone systems with similar age of infrastructure which can have a significant influence on the cost of water and sewer services. It should be noted that broad comparisons only give a cursory look at how one community’s rates compares to another. One must also incorporate each City’s individual philosophy in funding programs and services. For example, Roseville does NOT utilize assessments to pay for water or sewer infrastructure replacements like many other cities do. Instead we fund infrastructure replacements 100% through the rates. As a result, Roseville’s water and sewer rates are inherently higher when compared to a City that uses assessments to pay for improvements. Other influences on the rates include whether or not a community softens its water before sending it on to customers, and the extent in which communities charge higher rates to non-residential customers. 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 SF Homes: Avg Water Usage/Captured April -September Avg. Consumption (Gals.)Avg. Rainfall (Gals.)