SR-6-Y (5)
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6-Y
OCT 2 9 1991
Santa Monica, California
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council Meeting: October 29, 1991
To:
Mayor and City Council
From:
city Staff
Subject:
Request to Appropriate Water Mitigation Revenues in
the Amount of $500,000 to Fund Eligible Plumbing
Fixture Retrofits
INTRODUCTION
This report requests that City council appropriate $500,000 in
water mitigation fee revenues to the BAYSAVER program account in
the Environmental Programs Division to fund the retrofit of various
eligible public and private facilities in the City.
DISCUSSION
In March, 1991, council approved a water mitigation in-lieu fee
program as authorized in the City's emergency water conservation
ordinance. Since April 1, 1991 these water mitigation fees have
been charged to all new single family residential construction
which results in an allowable increase in total square footage of
more than 50 percent; all new mUlti-family residential construction
which results in the allowable addition of one or more units; and
all new non-residential construction which results in an allowable
increase in the total number of plumbing fixtures.
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OCT 2 9 1991
The water mitigation fee program requires that each applicable
building permit applicant pay to the City an amount sufficient to
ensure that existing water wasting toilets and showerheads in the
city can be retrofit with ultra low flow toilets and low flow
showerheads so that the City's overall water demand will be reduced
by two times the projected total water demand from the new project.
The water mitigation fee level which has been set is $3.00 for each
gallon per day (GPD) of water demand which must be mitigated. This
fee amount is based on actual cost experience from the City's
BAYSAVER retrofit program. From April 1, 1991 through October 15,
1991, approximately $500,000 in water mitigation fees were
collected by the city. It is estimated that approximately $500,000
in additional revenues will be collected between October 15, 1991
and June 30, 1992.
Water mitigation fee revenues are to be used for various categories
of priority bathroom retrofits in the city of Santa Monica. The
retrofit priority order is public schools, public buildings such as
libraries, park buildings, etc., low and moderate income housing
supported financially by the City, non-profit entities supported
financially by the City, and other non-profit entities. This list
of priority retrofits will be expanded based on the magnitude of
revenues which are collected from mitigation fees.
Through October 15, 1991, approximately $230,000 had been expended
on 1,525 toilet and urinal retrofits at city buildings, various
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school district campuses, Santa Monica College, and numerous non-
profit facilities. The retrofits enable these sites to more readily
comply with mandated water conservation requirements and experience
significant savings on their water and wastewater user charges.
The cost for these retrofits has so far been charged against the
BAYSAVER program account although the BAYSAVER account was not
budgeted to include funds for this purpose. The magnitude of water
mitigation fee collections and retrofit activity has been so great
over the past four months that it is now necessary to appropriate
the water mitigation fee revenues to the BAYSAVER expenditure
account. These mitigation revenues will both reimburse the BAYSAVER
account for expenses stemming from water mitigation retrofits and
ensure that sufficient appropriation authority is available to
continue the water mitigation retrofit program for the next few
months. As the use of water mitigation fee revenues is regulated
under the auspices of AB 1600, Environmental Programs Division
staff will also be working with the Finance Department and the
City Attorney's Office to finalize financial tracking procedures
for these funds which meet AB 1600 requirements.
BUDGET FISCAL IMPACT
This report recommends that the following account adjustments be
approved for both the Water Fund and the Wastewater Fund:
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Account Number
Chanqe
25-700-695-00000-5566-00000
$ 500,000
31-700-695-00000-5566-00000
500,000
31-700-695-00000-4439-00000
500,000
Net Change
500,000
City staff has determined that a sufficient nexus has been
established between the water mitigation fee revenues which have
been collected to date and the eligible program costs which are
described in this report. The net change of $500,000 will therefore
be financed by $500,000 of water mitigation fees currently held at
account 25-000-000-00000-9870-04705.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that Council approve the budget adjustments
summarized in this report which appropriate $500,000 in water
mitigation fee revenues to the BAYSAVER program account.
Prepared by:
Craig Perkins, Environmental Services Manager
Susan Munves, Conservation Coordinator
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