 Good evening My name is Sue Greenwald. I'm a former mayor of Davis and I served as a city council member in the city of Davis for 12 years I am here to speak in favor of measure P which if passed will repeal our new water rate structure This is a structure that is as unusual as it is unfair a fair rate structure is critically important Since we expect our water costs to more than tripling in coming years I welcome this opportunity to explain exactly why the new rate structure urgently needs to be revised To begin with it is important to explain that no other city in the state uses this rate structure It's completely untested. I have to emphasize this We have calculated that under this new rate structure an average single-family home will pay almost 40% more for each Gallon of water used than will other categories of users and this discrepancy will actually increase over time This cost shift is arbitrary and it is unrelated to income It will shift costs disproportionately to homeowners and tenants of existing single-family houses Because the rates are based primarily on usage during the previous year summer months For example, if you can serve water in the winter, but use some water in the summer You will pay more for water than a unit that wastes water in the winter But is vacant in the summer even if you use more water Don't use any more water for over the course of the year Our opponents make the incorrect claim that two-thirds of people will pay less under this system This false claim is based on the premise that big summer Irrigators like the city the school district and some key neighborhoods with the largest lots in town will pay massively more But our opponents know that these units are planning to opt out of irrigation by digging their own wells So the costs will shift right back to the remaining rate payers And the fact is that most people will actually be paying more with this rate The average homeowner costs are also underestimated because calculations assume that there would be future growth and Assume that the future subdivisions will use the same amount of water as existing homes But because of this new summer-based rate structure, these new subdivisions are also likely to opt out of irrigation by digging their own wells So by using a summer-based rate system the city is virtually forcing Large lot neighborhoods the city itself and new future subdivisions to dig expensive private wells This will leave existing residential users and existing businesses to subsidize the indoor use of water by those who opt out This is a lose-lose proposition. We expect no water rate relief from the touted water project cost reductions They're largely illusory Some were already factored into the original rate figures such as outside funding for the intake and some like the low-cost Interest state loans are not likely to materialize because the city council to chose to use a privatized operation method We believe that if you use twice as much water as the next guy You should certainly pay twice as much But the city is claiming that you should pay far far more than twice as much if you must allocate some of that water for summer use The city claims that it is fair to charge the average homeowner 40% more for each gallon of water used because the cost of the surface water project is dictated by quote peak summer use This argument's false first off the city claim that we needed the surface water project for reasons that have nothing to do with peak use Such as securing or with river water rights and improving the quality of our water In fact city consultants prove to us that we could have achieved all the necessary goals Including meeting peak capacity without the project and council acknowledged that further downsizing of the treatment plant would not Significantly decrease total projects costs. So there is simply no peak use justification for shifting costs to this massive project Disproportionately to any category of user if you use twice as much water You should pay twice as much and not far far more than twice as much Given the extraordinary water costs that we will be soon paying under any rate system There will be huge incentive for water conservation without this massive extra penalty and since everyone will adjust to the high water cost by conserving Conserving won't bring cost savings to you rates will just have to rise for the pay for the fixed costs Council has claimed that the strange and unprecedented rate structure was thoroughly discussed at the water advisory committee This is simply not true The water advisory committee members that I talked with thought they had voted to recommend a fairer rate based on 12 month usage And this is clear from the committee discussion that's on the tapes that you can read You can listen to because we chose to build an entirely new surface water project at the same time that we must build a new Wastewater treatment plant Davis citizens will have among the highest total costs for water sewer and garbage in the state within five years This makes it critical that the burden be distributed fairly. We need a fairer rate structure. Please vote yes on measure P Thank you