05/11/1987 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ms. Wooten asked about the impact of a minimum residential rate. Mr. Whitlow agreed to provide that information. e Ms. Ehrman asked whether the common mapping project included the entire metropolitan area. Ms. Andersen said that was a joint program involving the City, Lane Council of Governments, and other utilities. She said the portion of the program relating to sewers was intended to include all areas inside the city and those areas to be annexed. Mr. Whitlow said the program could be used by all utilities in the metro area, by design and planning staffs of area governments, and ultimately by police or other departments. He added that the Sewer Fund would contribute only one-third of the costs. Ms. Ehrman asked about the amounts being contributed by other utilities, and Mr. Whitlow agreed to obtain that information. He added that the program had begun about three yea rs ago. Mr. Jessie reported that the Metro Wastewater Management Commi ssion last Thursday had adopted its budget and rates. He said the proposed rates would be presented later, along with the budget. e Mr. Rutan said he thought the Cityls objectives were to maintain the same high-quality storm and sanitary sewer service that currently was received. He said he thought it was important to remember that the sewer service was one of the greatest resources in the community, although it often was taken for granted. He noted that service provided to commercial and industrial clients had an impact on economic development. He said another objective was to provide service at the lowest possible cost. Mr. Rutan said methods to achieve those objectives might include cost-cutting. He said opportunities always existed to examine overhead and occasional costs. He also suggested examining possible efficiencies in productivity that could occur without additional capital investment, postponing or limiting long-term programs, revi ewi ng whether methods of chargi ng coul d yi e 1 d greater resul ts whil e remaining fair and equitable (particularly in the River Road/Santa Clara area), and examining new opportunities for consolidation. Mr. Rutan said that in general he was not very comfortable with the issue, but he thought it was important to maintain the current high level of service at the lowest possible cost. Ms. Ehrman noted that the increase was being proposed because of an error resulting from a wrong assumption and partly because of the shift from the General Fund to the Sewer Fund. She said she shared Mr. Holmer's concern about the 1 i ke 1 i hood of future increases and was not certain about the desirability of the council IS direction toward user fees. Ms. Wooten requested information about Springfieldls process for a similar rate increase. Ms. Wooten also reported that she recently had toured the Wastewater Treatment Plant and had been extremely impressed with the state-of- the-art facility. She added that the facility had cost $75 million and had been intended for about 20 years of use. She said she thought the facility was overbuilt for current use and consequently was costing more than it should. She said continuing capital costs, in addition to an overbuilt plant, made no sense, and she was concerned about the escalation of those costs. Ms. Wooten said she also was unclear about the reason for inaccurate projections. She e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Dinner/Work Session May 11, 1987 Page 5