Drought Means No Water Rebates This Term

Every April and November, citizens anxiously await word from the City’s Budget Manager on the latest concerning their water bills. It’s an exciting time of crunching numbers—one filled with hope and bested by drought—in which monies collecting in a fund may be redistributed to San Angeloans who have dutifully paid their water bills.

Unfortunately, at Tuesday’s City Council meeting Budget Manager Morgan Chegwidden had to report that the fund balance was about $3.5 million short of the $5.2 million goal that had to be reached to offer the citizens rebates this term, news that can be given joyously this time around.

“From a financial perspective this is negative, but from a community perspective it’s positive,” Chegwidden said after the meeting. “It means we’re not making as much money, but it also means that the citizens are doing a good job conserving water.”

The City has had a rebate program in place since March 2006. Following profit and loss analysis, revenues accrued in a fund are assessed, and should they meet a predetermined goal equivalent to 75 days of operating expenses, rebates are given back to the public.

So far, action has only been taken twice. In one instance, the base fees for water usage were waived for every citizen for two months. The second time around, the funds were put toward capital projects, which may include anything from laying new pipelines, to purchasing new booster pumps for pump stations.

“We just want to make sure that we’re not charging anyone too much,” said Chegwidden of the purpose of the program. There are no specifics as to how the money is to be redistributed; it is based upon the needs of the community and the water department.

Due to the severity of the drought this year, water usage has been low, thus resulting in a low total in the fund. Chegwidden says the number indicates that citizens are taking the drought seriously and being mindful of their water usage, which she applauds as good practice.

The $2,766,039 in the fund as of September 30 will remain there, eligible for future use, which will be decided by City Council. The six councilmembers all unanimously agreed to take no action on the rebate program at this time, as suggested by Chegwidden.

The next round of possible rebates will come in April.