05/20/1985 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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- Robert Coller, PO Box 1187, is Laboratory Services Manager for Chef Francisco. He submitted written testimony to the council. He said the change in the method of charging for sewers is significant, but very little information about it had been available to the public. The new method of calculating sewer charges will result in a decrease in the charge to Chef Francisco, but the sewer charge to Chef Francisco has increased 400 percent in the last few years. The company has spent money monitoring costs and realigning sewers, but the sewer and extra strength charges have increased. Some of the com- pany's capital investments are negated by the new method of charging. e Mr. Coller urged the council to evaluate the effect of the proposed changes on industries. He said the new system assigns costs arbitrarily. There are 45,000 customers in the system. Of those, 53 are industrial customers who account for 3 percent of the flow and 3 percent of the waste. Comparing pro- posed charges, Mr. Coller said Chef Francisco's parking lot is roughly equiva- lent to a Safeway Store, but Chef Francisco would be charged $550 a month for storm sewers and Safeway would be charged $41 for storm sewers. The Hilton Hotel has underground parking and would be charged $385 for storm sewers. Mr. Coller said that street sweeping is not a function of water usage. The new system would charge Chef Francisco $172 a month for street sweeping. Safeway would be charged $12 a month, and the Hilton Hotel would be charged $108 for street sweeping. He said the indirect charges are not based on actual incurred costs. They seem to be based on the size of systems. Mr. Coller's analysis of the charges indicated that most of a customer's charge was for fixed costs. Although residential and commercial customers may decrease the amount of water they use, they usually do not decrease the amount of solids in the waste. Mr. Coller said that industrial charges are figured differently from the charges to other customers, although the impact of industrial customers is minimal. The strength charges to industrial customers are high if water usage is low. If water usage is increased to reduce the strength of waste, the water charges go up. He made three recommendations. They were: 1) The industrial classification should be deleted. Mr. Coller noted that the admin- istrative costs for waste treatment and water usage would be reduced if there is no need to monitor industrial usage; 2) The indirect charges should be incorporated into the flow costs; 3) Street sweeping and storm sewer charges should be based on the square footage of a lot. Steve Thornock, 4410 Hilyard, represented the Steiner Corporation, which oper- ates an industrial laundry. He said the cost of treating wastewater should be based on flow, but only 30 percent of the industrial charges are for the treatment of wastewater. Comparing costs, Mr. Thornock said the charge for processing 100 pounds of linen is 39~ in Portland, l2~ in Medford, l7~ in Spokane, and 5~ in Eugene. The Steiner Corporation recently made capital investments to reduce water usage, Mr. Thornock said, but the company's efforts to maximize the use of water have not produced the desired results. He noted that extra strength charges had contributed to the MWMC revenue surplus. He said that industrial e MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 20, 1985 Page 2