North Richmond News has the info regarding Richmond’s Department of Public Utilities upcoming community meetings. These meetings will discuss efforts to establish a Stormwater Utility Program to prevent neighborhood flooding in the future. More info via the city’s press release.

The meeting for our area will be held Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007, from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m. at Mary Munford Elementary School Auditorium, 211 Westmoreland Street.

“There is a tremendous need to create a dedicated funding source to address the flooding and drainage issues that are prevalent throughout our community,” said the Mayor. “This revised proposal for a stormwater utility provides a reasonable solution to help prevent those issues in the future.”

The reductions in the water and wastewater rates will virtually offset the cost of the stormwater utility fee for one- and two-person households with an average monthly utility usage, while the rate reductions will help to minimize the cost of the stormwater utility program for larger households.

“We need to bring about equity among the customers of our public utilities so that individuals are only paying their fair share of the expenses, not subsidizing the cost for non-residential customers,” said the Mayor.

DPU Director Chris Beschler will lead the meetings, which will be held in each part of the City and are open to all citizens. Below is the date for the North Richmond meeting, and five other meetings scheduled around town

The ever-continuing water shortage issue has launched into overdrive with the latest restriction updates, courtesy of the Times-Dispatch.

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During a severe drought, a 28% discount for Richmond residential customers using over 74,800 gallons per month is proposed! Richmond’s minimum water/sewer fees to remain the highest of any city in the United States!

A new water/sewer rate structure advocated in a report submitted by Richmond’s Mayor Douglas Wilder would not correct Richmond’s inequitable residential minimum water/sewer rates, which remain the highest of any city in the nation. In fact, the report recommends that the minimum water bill be raised by an additional 19 cents per month while the minimum sewer bill would be reduced by only $1.03. The Mayor’s proposed minimum water/sewer service charge of $42.72 would be three times the minimum water/sewer bill of $14.05 charged by Henrico County, which purchases some of its water from Richmond.

The new water rates do not go far enough in encouraging conservation of this precious resource. Proposed during the serious Fall/2007 drought, the Mayor’s recommendation would offer a 28% high volume discount to those residential customers who use or waste MORE than 100 hundred cubic feet of water a month. By contrast, Henrico County offers a 38% discount for water and sewer customers who use LESS than 6 CCF per month.

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Richmond is planning to change the sewer and water rates to shift the cost to the highest users and encourage conservation. This obviously affects commercial users such as St. Mary’s Hospital, UR, etc. however it should lower costs for residential users.

The city administration is proposing a five-year plan that would take effect July 1 and gradually equal the shares that different classes of water and sewer customers pay to support city utility systems. The plan is based on a new study that shows residential customers bear the overwhelming burden of the cost of providing water and sewer service in Richmond and, in some cases, in Henrico County.

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