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<br /> <br />REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION <br />Date: 3/18/2024 <br />Item No.: 7.a. <br />Department Approval City Manager Approval <br /> <br /> <br />Item Description: Consider Ordinance Amending Chapter 801 of Roseville City Code, <br />Water Meters <br />1 <br />2 Background <br />3 At the February 26, 2024 City Council meeting, the Council discussed amending the water <br />4 meter ordinance. Based on feedback from that meeting, staff made minor corrections to the <br />5 ordinance, which is now included as Attachment 1. The ordinance was reposted to meet <br />6 the notice requirements. <br />7 <br />8 Chapter 801.10 of the Roseville City Code deals with water meters. Currently, the <br />9 ordinance requires a meter deposit be charged to all new meter installations and new <br />10 customers. When customers change when homes are sold, the old meter deposit is <br />11 returned and a new meter deposit is required from the new customer. This creates a lot of <br />12 accounting and tracking as meter deposit costs change over time. There is currently a <br />13 balance of $1,499,849 in the meter deposit account for the 10,028 meter accounts that <br />14 have a deposit associated with the account. The intent of the deposit was to make sure <br />15 meters were not removed. <br />16 <br />17 Staff has reviewed other cities’ policies and most no longer require a meter deposit from all <br />18 customers, but do charge a meter fee for new construction. The current deposit <br />19 requirement is more of an accounting burden and provides little benefit to the City. With <br />20 radios on most meters, if a meter is tampered with or removed, staff would be made aware <br />21 of the issue very quickly. Staff would have other mechanisms to deal with lost meters, <br />22 including charging a fee for the cost of a new meter. <br />23 <br />24 The new ordinance changes the deposit requirement to a fee. The fee schedule will be <br />25 amended under a separate council action. Only new meters would be charged a fee. Over <br />26 time, when buildings are sold or when buildings are demolished, the existing customer <br />27 meter deposits would be returned. It will likely take 40-50 years to deplete the meter <br />28 deposit account, so there is no concern from Finance on running low on funds. The finance <br />29 department is looking into other options on how the funds could be returned in a quicker <br />30 timeframe. This will be presented to the Council at a later date. <br />31 <br />32 The City Attorney helped draft and review the proposed ordinance. <br />33 <br />Page 1 of 2 <br />Qbhf!22!pg!241 <br /> <br />