Task 1 Review Existing Cost of Service Studies - Within 1 week following approval of a service agreement, the selected consultant shall submit a list of requested reports, documents, schedules, and other data. The City established its cost of service and rate design methodology based on rate structures that were established many years ago and have not been reviewed in at least ten years. The consultant shall review the principles and methodology in the prior studies and recommend any changes to the approach based on current legal requirements, prevailing water industry rate setting practices, the City’s rate setting objectives, and changes in City customer usage patterns and demand profiles. Updating the City’s capacity charges is not part of the scope for this RFP. The Proposer will, however, need to understand these charges as a part of overall City revenues. Task 2 Research on Comparable Jurisdictions - The consultant will gather detailed information on the water and wastewater rates and rate structures of comparable and/or nearby jurisdictions in the region. Areas of focus should include policy-level decisions mentioned in other tasks, as well as a comparison of the average monthly water and sewer bill for various customer classes in the region. Research topics should cover a range of issues that allow the City to make accurate comparisons between the agencies, such as fixed charges versus volumetric consumption charges, customer classes, water budget-based rates, drought surcharges, and cost recovery for wastewater treatment processing costs to the extent there are rate impact considerations. The consultant should review the specific research topics with City staff to ensure all priority issues are included. Task 3 Communication and Public Participation Meetings - In close coordination with City staff, the consultant will develop and implement a public participation workshop with the Governing Body to increase customer awareness and understanding of rate development. The public presentation and public input session will consider successful and innovative communications strategies employed by other utilities/entities. The consultant will prepare for, attend, and participate in up to four (4) public meetings as determined by the City Manager and Governing Body. These meetings will collectively cover the following: initial study findings briefing, rate development policy discussion, rate resolution/ordinance proposed, rate resolution/ordinance adoption (if needed).
