Proposition 218 Notification

Notice of Public Hearing Date

Water Rate Adjustments

In accordance with California Constitution Article XIIID, the Centerville Community Services District (the “District”) recommends adopting proposed fees and charges.  You are receiving this notice in compliance with California Proposition 218 requirements that all impacted property owners are mailed a notice of proposed rate changes at least 45 days prior to the public hearing.   It describes the District’s proposed rate increases, as well as proposed new fees, and explains why they are necessary.  This notice also provides information on how to file a protest against the proposed rate increases and new fees if so desired.  Please call the office at (530) 246-0680 should you have any questions.

At the June 9, 2021 Board meeting, the Directors reviewed and adopted a preliminary Operations & Maintenance (“O&M”) Budget based upon the related cost-of-service analysis study.

The Board of Directors set a public hearing for July 29, 2021, at 7:00 pm (“Special Board Meeting”).  As a result of the dynamic nature of COVID-19 requirements, and the uncertainty as how they may impact public meetings into the near future, this notice is anticipating that the Special Board Meeting would be held via ZOOM.  Should the meeting be held in-person it would be at the District Office located at 8930 Placer Road, Redding, CA.  Additional information related to attendance and participation will be included in the Special Board Meeting agenda notice.  Please refer to the posted agenda for the most current meeting information.  At the public hearing, the proposed rate increases and proposed new fees will be presented and the public will be given an opportunity to comment.  If adopted, the proposed changes will become effective August 1, 2021.  

The following is a summary of the recommended adjustments:

• No rate adjustments are proposed to the current Base Rate or the Consumption Rate.
• Adjustments are necessary to the Base Rate Surcharge and the Consumption Rate Surcharge for Pump Zones A and A1 (affecting a total of approximately 160 customers).
• Grant School will be subject to the District’s Consumption Rate.
• A temporary Drought Surcharge is proposed to recover a portion of the supplemental water purchase expense.

Basis of Proposed Rates                                        

In providing adequate water service and supply to its customers, the District must receive sufficient total revenue to ensure proper operation and maintenance (“O&M”), development and sustainability of the water system, and the preservation of the District’s financial integrity.  The District utilizes a cash-needs approach for the basis of rate-making.  The basic revenue requirement components of the cash-needs approach include: O&M expense, taxes or transfer payments, debt-service payments, contributions to specific reserves, and the cost of capital expenditures that are not debt financed or contributed (i.e., capital improvements funded directly from rate revenues).  

In supplying a reliable, adequate supply of high-quality water, at the lowest reasonable price, in an environmentally responsible manner, the District operates and maintains 55 miles of pipeline, six separate pressure zones, 377 fire hydrants, 725 valves, 93 air valves, 21 blow-offs, five booster pump stations, four pressure reducing stations, one pressure relief station, five reservoirs and three inter-tie connections.  The District receives its water from Whiskeytown Lake which is treated at the Clear Creek CSD (“CCCSD”) Filtration Treatment Plant (“Treatment Plant”).  As such, the District is responsible for a proportionate share of all costs associated with the O&M of the Treatment Plant. 

Specific to Pressure Zones A and A1, there have been numerous repairs and replacements required this past year which have greatly impacted the District’s Pump Station Repair and Replacement Reserve.  In addition, both of these pump zones have experienced an increased power expense.  Each of these pump zones are completely reliant upon pumping for its water supply which requires power.  During the times of PG&E power outages and its related Power Safety Power Shutoff events, it is necessary to use emergency generators to power these critical pumps.  This has a significant impact to the overall budget for these small pump zones. 

In analyzing Grant School’s cost-of-service, it is proposed that the school be subject to the District’s Consumption Rate.

Related to the on-going drought conditions and the resulting reduced water allocation, the District has purchased supplemental water to better meet projected customer water demands.  A temporary Drought Surcharge is proposed to recover a portion of the cost related to the necessary water purchase.

Proposed Zone A Pump Surcharge Fee Increases

Below are the proposed Base Rate Surcharge and the Consumption Rate Surcharge rate increases for the Zone A Pump Zone which includes examples of how this will impact the monthly billing.   Zone A has approximately 130 customers.

The following example depicts how this proposed rate increase would impact Zone A customers’ typical monthly bills depending on water usage:

Proposed Zone A1 Pump Surcharge Fee Increases

Below are the proposed Base Rate Surcharge and the Consumption Rate Surcharge rate increases for the Zone A1 Pump Zone which includes examples of how this will impact the monthly billing.  Zone A1 has approximately 30 customers. 

The following example depicts how this proposed rate increase would impact Zone A1 customers’ typical monthly bills depending on water usage:

Proposed Grant School Service Rate Increases

Grant School is proposed to pay the District’s Consumption Rate.  Listed below is the District’s proposed rate increase for Grant School’s monthly Consumption Rate:

The following example depicts how this proposed rate increase would impact Grant School’s typical monthly bills:

Proposed Drought Surcharge

The District receives its water supply from a contract with the Bureau of Reclamation.  In February 2021, the District received notice that it would only receive a 55% water allocation based upon its 3-year historical average of Municipal & Industrial (“M&I”) water.  As a result of the reduced water allocation, the District purchased 400 acre-feet (“AF”) of supplemental water from the McConnell Foundation at a cost of $250 per AF.  This $100,000 expenditure was paid using available funds from the O&M Reserve. 

Effective June 1, 2021, the M&I Allocation was further reduced down to only 25% of the historical average. 

In order to recover half of the $100,000 supplemental water purchase, the District proposes a Drought Surcharge to restore a portion of this purchase expense.  The proposed Drought Surcharge is: 

Proposed Rate Increase Protest Procedure

If you intend to protest the rate increases and new fees, you must submit a written protest to the District at or before the time set for the public hearing.  If a written protest is filed by a majority of ratepayers/parcel owners, the proposed rate changes and new fees will not be adopted.  

A written protest must contain a description of the parcel or parcels in which the party signing the protest owns.  A current address or assessor’s parcel number is sufficient to identify the parcel(s). If the party signing the protest is not shown on the last equalized assessment role of Shasta County as the owner of the parcel(s), the protest must contain or be accompanied by written evidence that such party is the owner of the parcel(s).  Only one written protest will be counted per identified parcel.