They had the first public hearing on the Capital Budget and Capital Improvement Plan yesterday evening. They had an updated copy of all the projects and estimated costs. Lots of information available. This meeting was for the staff and citizens to interact, and they did for around 2 hours. They don't have the latest information up on the city website yet, but last years info is there and most of the projects are on going. There is another meeting Thursday at the Carl Ray Johnson rec center at 6:30pm.
p.s.: This is also on the testbed
Showing posts with label capital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label capital. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Rates & progress
If you have been paying attention lately, one thing is clear. Water and sewer rates are going to have to go up. We may be lucky and get state or federal assistance to fix our infrastructure. We must get creative and figure out how to use the 4b sales tax to pay for some repairs where appropriate and legal, but in the end the rates will have to go up. The only question left is how do you raise the rates.
A flat, $15.00 per meter increase is too simplistic. It's not equitable and it's very regressive. To use a very overworked term, it isn't fair.
There is a strong case for putting at least the majority of the increase into the meter charge or a separate capital fund charge on the water bill. It makes sense to have capital projects paid for by the fixed part of the bill, but make sure that the meter charge is raised proportionally. At the current rate and a $15.00 increase, a 5/8" meter users rate would rise from $10.08 to $25.08, an increase of 149%. An 8" meter users rate would go from $136.03 to $151.03, an increase of only 11%. A Rough estimate tells me that a 140% to 145% increase on all the meters would still raise the same money, with a more equal distribution of the capital repair costs, and a savings to the smaller user of $.30 to $.60. Not a lot but significant to those on a fixed income.
There are probably other questions that need to be asked about how to do this rate. I will grant that prior rate increases were too heavy on the per gallon charge for the politically popular goal of keeping meter rates low, but we need to be wary of going too far the other way. An 80% to the meter with 20% to the per gallon charge would leave a per meter increase of $12.00, and if the 20 split is based on a very conservative usage rate of 140 gpd (the Texas conservation goal) which is 13 gpd below current usage we should be safe. Sewer rates definitely need to be raised so that waste treatment is more self supporting.
In the end, there need to be rate increases. We still need to fine tune where and how much they will be.
A flat, $15.00 per meter increase is too simplistic. It's not equitable and it's very regressive. To use a very overworked term, it isn't fair.
There is a strong case for putting at least the majority of the increase into the meter charge or a separate capital fund charge on the water bill. It makes sense to have capital projects paid for by the fixed part of the bill, but make sure that the meter charge is raised proportionally. At the current rate and a $15.00 increase, a 5/8" meter users rate would rise from $10.08 to $25.08, an increase of 149%. An 8" meter users rate would go from $136.03 to $151.03, an increase of only 11%. A Rough estimate tells me that a 140% to 145% increase on all the meters would still raise the same money, with a more equal distribution of the capital repair costs, and a savings to the smaller user of $.30 to $.60. Not a lot but significant to those on a fixed income.
There are probably other questions that need to be asked about how to do this rate. I will grant that prior rate increases were too heavy on the per gallon charge for the politically popular goal of keeping meter rates low, but we need to be wary of going too far the other way. An 80% to the meter with 20% to the per gallon charge would leave a per meter increase of $12.00, and if the 20 split is based on a very conservative usage rate of 140 gpd (the Texas conservation goal) which is 13 gpd below current usage we should be safe. Sewer rates definitely need to be raised so that waste treatment is more self supporting.
In the end, there need to be rate increases. We still need to fine tune where and how much they will be.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Capital Fun
The city government is finishing up work on a Capital Improvement Plan. As recent events have shown, it's about time.
At the last City Council, the various departments gave a short synopsis of what they see as the capital needs. They gave out a handout with projects, costs, and justifications for the projects they want funded which I have scanned in and put here on the main web site. This is a wish list of all the capital expenditure type projects in the city. You will find projects such as a new ambulance, upgraded communications, airport public restrooms, etc.. There were nine separate sections in the handout. Lots of numbers and so-so pictures. The power point slides and presentations by the department heads was much better and more informative. The handout was just for background reference.
This handout seems to be very complete including projects that may not be able to justify much priority. Some of the sections, such as IT are pretty thin. Sewer and Water seem thin until you realize the scope of the projects on each page. The thickest section is from Parks and Recreation. Part of the reason is there is one page for each park and recreation center, so that is not too surprising. Still, there are some surprises in this handout. We will cover some of them in future blog articles. Until then, take a look for your self and see what you think should be the priorities, and see what they might have missed.
At the last City Council, the various departments gave a short synopsis of what they see as the capital needs. They gave out a handout with projects, costs, and justifications for the projects they want funded which I have scanned in and put here on the main web site. This is a wish list of all the capital expenditure type projects in the city. You will find projects such as a new ambulance, upgraded communications, airport public restrooms, etc.. There were nine separate sections in the handout. Lots of numbers and so-so pictures. The power point slides and presentations by the department heads was much better and more informative. The handout was just for background reference.
This handout seems to be very complete including projects that may not be able to justify much priority. Some of the sections, such as IT are pretty thin. Sewer and Water seem thin until you realize the scope of the projects on each page. The thickest section is from Parks and Recreation. Part of the reason is there is one page for each park and recreation center, so that is not too surprising. Still, there are some surprises in this handout. We will cover some of them in future blog articles. Until then, take a look for your self and see what you think should be the priorities, and see what they might have missed.
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