Milpitas overcharges 6395 Multifamily parcels because of not using calculated fees

 To determine how much to charge all the residential family residents the following formula is provided. This formula is the basis for the calculated fees. This is required in the notice that sent to the public on utility rate fees. The city did not provide this basis and is a violation of Article XIII D section 6 1.

The formula for determining sewer rates are as follows:

1. People per household (PPH) * gallons/day * 365 gallons/year * number of parcels = total gallons per year
2. Add the gallons of all parcel types to get total gallons of all parcel types.
3. Divide the gallons of a parcel type by the total of all parcels = percentage of cost.
4. Percentage of cost * total cost $7,369,096.00   = Cost of a parcel type.
5. The cost of a parcel type divided by the number of parcels = Yearly fee.

Examples
1:
Single family
3.34 PPH * 65 gallons/day * 365 days/year * 12264 single family parcels = 980,546,658 gallons/year
Multifamily
2.05 PPH * 60 gallons/day * 365 days/year * 6397 multifamily parcels  =    287,193,315 gallons/year
Mobile homes
1.9 PPH* 60 gallons/day * 365 days/year * 570 Mobile homes parcels  =      25,694,175 gallons/year

2:                                                                                Total of all parcels =  1,293,434,148 gallon/year

3:
Single family:  980,546,658 gallons/ total 1,293,434,148 gallons = 75.8% percent of total cost
Multifamily :    287,193,315 gallons/ total 1,293,434,148 gallons = 22.2% percent of total cost
Mobile homes:   25,694,175 gallons/ total 1,293,434,148 gallons = 1.98% percent of total cost

4:

Single family:    75.8% * $7,369,096.00 =  $5,5586,478.81 Cost to all single family parcels
Multifamily :     22.2% * $7,369,096.00 =    $1,636,229.50  Cost to all multifamily  parcels
Mobile homes:  1.98% * $7,369,096.00 =       $142,387.69  Cost to all mobile home parcels

5.
Single family:  $5,5586,478.81/ 12264 parcels = $455.52 yearly fee per parcel
Multifamily:      $1,636,229.50/   6397 parcels =  $255.78 yearly fee per parcel
Mobile homes:     $142,387.69/ 12264 parcels =  $249.80 yearly fee per parcel

Do not expect that the city of Milpitas will charge the calculated rate!

The following is the calculated fee compared to actual charge.
                             Calculated  charge      Actual charge     Comment
Single family:            $455.52                   $455.52            correct.
Multifamily:              $255.78                    $306.36           overcharge of over $50.00 per year.
Mobile homes:          $249.80                    $200.16           undercharge of over $49.00 per year

The result is that the city is overcharging for sewer services and is a violation of
 Article XIII D section 6 b
" (1) Revenues derived from the fee or charge shall not exceed the funds required to provide the property related service."

The city council members take an oath to uphold the state Constitution but this is just a formality to pick up their pay checks at the end of the week and get themselves reelected.

This is what you get when the people of Milpitas do not know how their sewage fees are charged.
I have ask the city how the water fixed rate fee is charged and the city will not provide me the answer. I suspect that the water fixed fee charge that went up by 17% is a made up too.

The quantity of Milpitas parcels that are overcharged and undercharged

Pie chart showing parcels that are over and undercharged

The city assumes on average there are 3.37 people living in single family residents and 2.75 people living in multifamily parcels and 1.9 pph in mobile homes. If there are less people living in these units then they are overcharged. The city also assumes that the single family parcels and mobile homes are using 65 gallons every day, 365 days a year. Multifamily units are using only 60 gallons a day for every day of the year. This means that all homes that have 4 or more people are undercharged for the sewage and all parcels that have only 1 person living in them are overcharged. Single family parcels that have less then 3.37 people living on the parcel then their overcharged also. All the residential units are added up to determine the total number of gallons used by the following:

single family
3.37 pph * 65 gallons a day *365 days a year * 12264 parcels = 980,546,658 gallons/ year.
multifamily
3.37 pph * 65 gallons a day * 60 days a year * 6797 parcels = 287,193,515 gallons/year
mobile home
3.37 pph * 65 gallons a day * 60 days a year * 570 parcel = 25,694,175 gallons/year
Total gallons = 1,293,434,148 gallons/year .
The total cost for sewage is $7,369,096.00.
To find the cost per parcel get the gallons per parcel type and divide by the total gallons of all the parcels
 Example:
Single family
980546658/1,293,434,148 * $7,369,096.00 = $5228373.61.
Divide the total of the single family type by the total number of parcels of that type. Example: $5228373.61/12264 = $455.52 yearly fee and divide yearly fee by 6 to arrive at bimonthly fee. $455.52/6 = $75.92 bimonthly fee.

Multifamily
287,193,515/ 1,293,434,148 * $7,369,096.00 = $1,317,516.40 fee for all parcels of that type. $1,317,516.40 / 6797 parcels = $205.96 yearly fee or $34.33 bimonthly.

Mobile homes
25.694,175/1,293,434,148 * $7,369,096.00 = $146,387.69 fee for all parcels of that type.
$146,387.69 / 570 parcels = $256.82 or $42.80 bimonthly fee.

In order to compare what your actually use you must convert gallons into hundred cubic feet units because that what you fee is charged in. One HCF units is 748 gallons.
Dividing the total gallons of all the units by 748 gallons per HCF units will calculate to 1729190.037 HCF units. If your parcel was charged for what you actually use than your fee would be the toal cost divided by the total hcf units, which is $7,369,096.00/1729190.037 HCF units = $4.26/HCF. Look at your utility bill and there is a bar graph at the bottom. Count the number of HCF units per year and multiply that number by $4.24 and you will know if you're overcharged. To tell the whole story the city of Milpitas is overcharging all multifamily units that has 2 people because the city does not charge according to the numbers for multifamily units but they clam they are. The city is actually charging $51.06 bimonthly or $306.30 per year for multifamily units. The basic point is that if the number of people in your house is 2 or less for multifamily units then your overcharged and if there are less then 4 people in single family units then your overcharged and if any parcel has 4 or more people living in them than they are all undercharged. The must accurate way to charge for sewage is on actual use not on averages, but the city wants to use averages. The city is charging $75.92 for single family and $51.06 and $33.16 for mobile homes. The last comment is that it is violation of Article XIII D section 6 to overcharge for utilities.

http://www.ci.milpitas.ca.gov/_pdfs/plan_plan_general_chapter7.pdf
See Table III.29: Large Households in Milpitas, 2008

Are you going to vote for new council members in Milpitas?

That is a personal choice, but here are some things you should know about the two council members that are up for reelection. The Mayor Esteves and council member Debby Giordano are up for reelection.

The Mayor Jose Esteves and council member Debby Giordano have voted to increased  you utility taxes by the following numbers.

1. Sewer charges increased by 7% Milpitas sewer rates are the highest in Santa Clara county.
2. Water flat rate increased (water meter fee) by 17%. Who knows how they calculate this fee? This is the second highest fee in Santa Clara county. Mayor Esteves or City manager Tom Williams will not disclose how this fee is calculated. Not disclosing how a fee is calculated is a violation of state law article XIII - D section 6 (1)  which states  "agency shall provide written notice by mail of the proposed fee, the basis upon which the amount of the proposed fee or charge was calculated." There was basis of how any of the increased fees were calculated.
3. The water rates are the second highest in Santa Clara county. For 0 - 10 hundred cubic feet of water (HCF) the fee increased by 14% from $1.77 to $2.02. For 11 -20 HCF the fee has increased by 68.0% from $1.77 to $2.76. For 21 - 30 HCF the fee increased by 8% from $3.72 to $4.02. A hundred cubic feet of water equals 748 gallons of water.
4. Milpitas water meter fee is the second highest in Santa Clara county. Milpitas residence pay $13.15 most other cities pay from $9.00 to $12.00. Only San Jose water Co. charges more at $16.93 for some homes in Cupertino, Los Gatos and Saratoga.

Your city council members are part time employees of the city and they spend about 3 to 4 hours on the city council twice a month which is 20 meeting a year ( there off one month ) and they sit on one or two other advisory commissions. That's about 170 hours a year at most and they get a health benefits and a retirement package. Why are the residents of Milpitas paying for health and retirement benefits for part time employees is beyond my understanding, except that they are greedy people and they can vote for their own benefits. Most have full time jobs that pay for their benefits.

What can we say about council member Debby Giordano?

At the Oct 2, 2012 city council meeting there was video showing Debby Giordano taking a mailbox off the post of her x husband residents. I believe that a federal offence. This is hard to believe, see for yourself. This is the city own website.

http://vp.telvue.com/player?height=300&id=T02061&noplaylistskin=1&video=131586&width=400

You need to get to about 32 minutes into the city council meeting before you see the video of Debby taking the mail box. There is a horizontal bar at the bottom of the video that you can set the time to view. Click on the mouse at about 3 inches to the left. This video will show you the character of some of your own city council members.

Debby received $10,000 in money for her education expense. That money should be for full time employees not for part time employees, I have no idea what the tax payers of Milpitas gets out of her  education expenses but I guess she thinks that she worth it. Tom Williams the city manager thought that it was a good idea too and I guess that why Debby voted to give him a 6% increase in salary. Tom Williams is now is making $212,000 a year. She also voted to give away $1.5 million dollars to a private company called SunPower that makes solar panels. The agreement was that they hire 80 Milpitas residents. These jobs were assembly jobs at the lowest pay grade. Who knows if they met this agreement or if the city can get this money back. The Mayor and all other council members voted for this give away of our tax money to a private company. The senior advisory commission asked the city council for opening the senior center on the weekends. Debby would not even bring this up for a vote. The tax payers paid $11 million dollars for the place and seniors who have to work during the week can not even use the place. Who knows how much the construction company gave to the city council members for construction on the new senior center.

You can vote for who you want to, but you should know that these council members are council members for their own benefits while there taxing you to death and breaking state and federal laws. Please vote for new city council members, the city of Milpitas needs better council members that are not in it for their own benefits and want to serve the public and not themselves.

 Look at votenow other posts to see if you are being ripped off on your sewage charges.

 

 

How to read your utility bill to determine if you're overcharged

How to read your utility bill to determine how much water per year you're using and possibly overcharged for sewage fees

A sample of  the bar graph that is shown at the bottom of your utility is shown here.

Hundred cubic feet (HCF) = 748 gallons of water

Get your utility bill and look the bottom, there is a bar graph similar to the one above. The bar graph shows the number of hundred cubic feet ( HCF)  units of water coming into you're house per month and year. This is important because you are charged a flat rate fee for how much sewage water you're using. The city charges for a single family parcel as if there are 3.37 persons per household (PPH) living on the parcel and using 65 gallons a day every day of the year. This equates to the following number of gallons per year.

(3.37 PPH) X  (65 gallons per day)  X (365 days a year) = 79,953.25 gallons.

It is necessary to convert number of gallons of water to HCF units, because the bar graph is uses HCF units. To convert to HCF units divide the number of gallons by 748.

 Thus 79,953.25 gallons / 748 gallons per HCF =  106.89 HCF units per year.

 The current sewage charge for all single family unit is $455.52 per year. To calculate what your fee per HCF should be is to take your yearly fee of $455.52  and divide by 106.89 HCF.

$455.52/106.89 HCF = $4.46 per HCF. The highest business charge is $5.38 and the average is about $3.33.

Are you overcharged for you service? This would occur if you use less then 79,953 gallons a year or 106.89 HCF per year.

The bar graph sample above shows in a year that this parcel is only using 6 HCF units per year. Each bar is 1 HCF and there are 6 bars in the year. The cost this parcel should be paying is $4.46/HCF x 6 HCF units is  $26.76. The result is an over charge of  $455.52 - $26.76 =  $428.76. This graph  is most likely for a single person, but even so you still could be overcharged by a large amount even if there are 2 or more people and the parcel is not using 65 gallons a day, every day of the year. That is the reason why you need to check. In the bar graph shown there, if there is only 6 HCF used in a year and the city is charging the single family resident as if the parcel was using 106.89 HCF units in sewage a year then there is more water leaving the parcel in sewage then the water coming into the parcel. Of course this is impossible, but the city still wants to charge you a flat fee of $455.52 per year. This problem occurs because the city uses a flat rate fee to charge all residential units. The business units are charged what their actually used, but residential units not. The city's general plan chapter 7 page 45 shows a table of number of people per household. The table shows that there are 1,364 parcels that have only one person. These parcels are all over charged. The ratio of single family to multifamily units is 2 out of 3. The number of single family units that only have two people is 2/3 of  3,167 parcel owners or 2,111 parcels . This is 2,111 single family parcels that have only two persons per household. These parcels are also overcharged, because the city is using 3.37 people per household for single family units. Together with one person per household  at 909 parcels, and two people per household at 2,111 then the number of  single family units is 3,020 households that are over charged. Divide your yearly bill by the number of HCF from your bar graph and you will find how much your actually paying compared to business parcels. Using the example above for single family would be $455.52/6 = $75.92. For multifamily it would be $255.75/6 = $42.63.

 Article XIII D section 6 state

(1) Revenues derived from the fee or charge shall not exceed the funds required to provide the property related service.

(2) Revenues derived from the fee or charge shall not be used for any purpose other than that for which the fee or charge was imposed.

(3) The amount of a fee or charge imposed upon any parcel or person as an incident of property ownership shall not exceed the proportional cost of the service attributable to the parcels the following:

The city has violated section 6 b(1) and b(3) because the fees exceed the funds required to provide the property related service and the fee exceeds the proportional cost of the service attributable to the parcel. Notes it says "any parcel", this means that if one parcel is overcharged then there is a violation of the state law. The city has also violated section 6 (1) which states

"The city shall identify parcels upon which the fee or charge is proposed for imposition, the amount of the fee or charge proposed to be imposed upon each, the basis upon which the amount of the proposed fee or charge was calculated..."

The city did not provide the basis upon which the amount of the proposed fee was calculated, which  means that the city did not state how the fees are calculated in the utility notice that sent to the parcel owners in April of 2011.

Multifamily units are charged $306.36 flat rate fee. In the example above if the parcel used 6 HCF units a year then their overcharge would be $306.36 - $26.76 =  $279.60.  Why is the yearly flat rate fee less for multifamily units than single family units, because the city uses only 2.05 PPH and only 60 gallons a day for 365 days a year. This amounts to 44895 gallons a year or 60.02 HCF per year. The multifamily units are overcharged if their using less then 44895 gallons a year and undercharged if their using more then 44,849 gallons a year.

Your fees are most likely different from the example above but there are over 2,500 households in Milpitas that are overcharged because there are only 2 or less people living in those parcels. They are mostly seniors that are effected. What can you do if you're overcharged? Call you city council members and tell them you're overcharged and do not vote for them in November. The council members that are up for renewal are the Mayor Esteves and Debby Giordano. They both voted to increase your sewage charge by 7% for single family and your water fixed rate fee by 15%, and 16% increase in water fees for less then 10 HCF, and  68.36% incease in water fees above 10 HCF. Those water and sewage charges could go even higher in the future.

Milpitas overcharges over 3000 single family parcels

How the city of Milpitas overcharges parcels on sewage.

Shown here is a table from the city general plan chapter 7 Table III.29 page 7-45 that shows how many people live in their parcels in Milpitas.

 http://www.ci.milpitas.ca.gov/_pdfs/plan_plan_general_chapter7.pdf on page 7-45.

household size	% of all households	total	renters	owners
1 person	11.5%	2,066	702	1,364
2 persons	24.0%	4,290	1,123	3,167
3 persons	20.3%	3,634	1,249	2,385
4 persons	20.0%	3,584	1,048	2,538
5 persons	11.4%	2,048	2048	1,362
6 persons	6.3%	1,120	252	868
7 persons	6.5%	1,157	361	796
5 or more persons	24.2%	4,325	1,309	3,016

In order to calculate a fee per parcel the city uses a persons per household number (PPH). the 2010 numbers are the following: For single family units is 3.45, multifamily units 2.75 and mobile homes 1.9 . The city changed these numbers and decided to use the 2010 sewage report numbers. The 2010 sewage numbers are from a Santa Clara planning department for the year 1975. The 1975 numbers are as follows: Single family 3.37, multifamily 2.05 and mobile home PPH numbers are the same as today. The city is assuming every parcel is using 60-65 gallons a day per person for 365 days a year. If you do not use that may gallons of water a day, well then your overcharged in the gallons also. You may ask why did the city change from one set of persons per household numbers to other? The answer is that if they used the 2010 numbers the single family units could not be charged a 7% increase in fees in 2011 and the multifamily charges would go up by 3%, but if they used the 1975 numbers that really decreases the number people per household for multifamily parcels which will result in a decrease in the number gallons the multifamily parcels are using by 25%. So the multifamily units sewage fee should have gone down, but went up by  0.75% and single family units went up by 7%.  The city is playing politics with the fees and overcharging the single family units. If the city just used the current person per household  (PPH) numbers i.e. single family 3.45 multifamily 2.75 and mobile homes 1.9 PPH, then the single family parcels would have payed only $0.78 more per year. This is not a misprint. The multifamily parcels would have payed only  $9.60 more a year.  Using the 1975 Santa Clara city planning numbers i.e. single family 3.37and multifamily 2.05 PPH, then the city could charge $30.00 more for  single family units or 7% more then the $425.64 charge in 2010. Single family units now pay $149.00 more per year then multifamily units. This is a simple trick to overcharge the single family units.

Looking at the table above for all the single, multifamily or mobile homes parcels there are 1,364 parcels that only have one person living in them and are being grossly overcharged. Depending on what type of housing units their in, they are charged 2-3 times what they should be paying. There are 3,167 households that only have 2 people living in them. Of the 3,167 households that have 2 people there are 2,831 single family units that are overcharged because again you charging as if there were 3.37- 3.45 PPH. This means that just in the single family units alone there are over 2,977 households that are overcharged.  That is 36.31% of all the single family units are being overcharged because of 2 or less people living in them. 

How would you solve this problem? The answer is by charging for what you really use.  The city of Milpitas does exactly that for business units but not for residential units.  A fee per HCF would save all those households from being grossly overcharged.  If you look at the number of households that have 4 or more people per household (PPH) then there are 5,564 parcels that are undercharged because you’re only charging as if there were 3.37 PPH to 3.45 PPH using 60 - 65 gallons a day, 365 days a year. That means that 44.58% are being undercharged. This problem would go away if you were charged a fee per HCF. Everyone would pay their fair share.  The city says that the fee per HCF would not be accurate in all cases but how accurate is overcharging over 36% of single family residents and undercharging 44.58% of all residents. The city is not even in the ball park for accuracy using the flat rate fees as the statistics show.

The city of Milpitas knows that they are overcharging thousands of households because the city sends you a bimonthly bill on how much water your using.  As an example to find out how much a single family is using in sewage, the city uses the following formula:
persons per household (PPH)* 65 gallons per day * 365 days a year. For single family units the number of gallons per year would be
3.45 PPH * 65 gallons per day * 365 days per year = 81851.25 gallons per year. We need to convert 81851.25 gallons to hundred cubic feet of water (HCF). One HCF = 748 gallons.  Divide the number of gallons 81851.25 by 748 to get to HCF units per year.
81851.25/748 = 109.42 HCF per year. The question is, are you using 81851.25 gallons of water a year or 109.42 HCF per year?  The city knows how many gallons of water you're using because the city send you bimonthly utility bill which as how much water  water your using and if the number of gallons is less then 81851.25 (109.42 HCF) you're overcharged.

Every other month you get your utility bill. The number of gallons of water per year our using is on that bill. You can determine the number of HCF units your using by the bar graph that on the bottom of the bill. The bar graph shows the number of HCF units by the month. Add up all the bars for one year and you know how much water in HCF units your using. If the number is less then 109.42 HCF then you're overcharged for your service and if were charged what you actually use then the fee will be less if there are less then 3.45 PPH. What this means is the city is charging you for 81851.25 gallon going out of your residence then the water is coming into you residents. This problem is occurring for many thousands of residents, it does not matter what type of parcel there in.  The single family units are paying $455.52 and multifamily units are paying $306.36 per year.  Single family is paying $149.16 for the same service then multifamily parcels. If there are only two people living in both types of units why should a single family unit pay $149.16 more?

The residents of Milpitas fix can this problem is by getting rid of the city council members that are up for reelection. Debby Giordano and Mayor Jose Esteves are up for reelection. I have asked for a meeting with Mayor Jose Esteves on sewer charges and he refused. Two years from now get rid of the other council members. All council members voted to increase you sewage charge by 7% and your water fixed rate fee by 15%. The city manger Tom Williams will not even disclose how this water fixed rate fee is calculated. This attitude by the city manager is the result of your elected council members that do not care what you're charged for your utility fees. They only care about keeping themselves in office. If you're are overcharged send a email to the council members and tell them your not going to vote for them. The email addresses are jesteves@ci.milpitas.ca.gov and dgiordano@ci.milpitas.ca.gov











 

How city of Milpitas calculates your sewage utility fee.

How the city of Milpitas calculates and overcharges single family parcels on sewage charges

1. First you need to calculate the number of gallons every type of parcel uses per year. The formula is as follows:

Multiply the number of people per household (PPH) times gallons of water used daily times 365 days a year. Divide the result by 748 to get to hundred cubic feet (HCF) of water units. 1 HCF = 748 gallons. The conversion just makes the numbers smaller. Your utility bill uses HCF units to charge you your bimonthly fee.
Single family 3.45 PPH * 65 gallons daily * 365 days a year = 81,851.25 gallons per year (109.42 HCF)
Multifamily    2.75 PPH * 60 gallons daily * 365 days a year = 60,225 gallons per year (80.51 HCF)
Mobile homes 1.9 PPH * 65 gallons daily * 365 days a year = 45,077.5 gallons per year (60.26 HCF)

2. The next thing we need to calculate is the total number of gallons from all the residents.

The numbers of people that are in the three types of parcels are as follows.

There are 12264 single family units, 6397 multifamily units and 570 mobile homes units.
Multiply the number of units by the number of HCF units in that type of residential unit.

Single family parcels      12264 * 109.42 HCF   = 1,342,010.33 HCF.

Multifamily parcels          6397  *  80.51 HCF   =   515,052.57 HCF.
Mobile homes                    570   *  60.26 HCF   =     34,350.50 HCF.
                          Total HCF used by all residents     1,891,413.4 HCF
                                   

The total number of HCF of all the parcels  is the sum of single, multifamily and mobile homes.

The total HCF is 1,342,010.33 + 515,052.57 + 34,350.5 = 1,891,413.4 HCF.

 3. Now were ready to find calculate the fee per parcel unit. The question is how much should all the parcels pay out of the total bill to the city which is $7,369,096.00. The answer is to divide the number of each type of parcel HCF from the total HCF of all the parcels

Single family     1,342,010.33 HCF / total  1,891,413.40 HCF = 70.95%

Multifamily          515,052.33 HCF / total  1,891,413.40 HCF = 27.23%
Mobile homes         34,350.5 HCF / total  1,891,413.40 HCF =    1.83%

 4. Now you have all you need to calculate the fee per parcel type. Multiply the total bill of $7,369,096.00 by the percentage. The number is what all the people of that family type must pay.

Single family    70.953% * total bill $7,369,096.00 = $522,859,468.49.

Multifamily       27.23% * total bill $7,396,096.00 =  $201,395,694.08.
Mobile homes   1.83% * total bill $7,396,096.00  =          $135,348.55.

 5. Now that you know the total fee for each parcel then the last thing you need is how to figure what you should be paying every year and your bimonthly fee. This is done by dividing the bill for each parcel type by the number of parcels of that type.

Single family    $522,859,468.49/ 12264 = $436.34 per year,   $71.06 bimonthly.
Multifamily       $201,359,694.08/6397    = $313.69 per year,  $52.28 bimonthly.
Mobile home             $135,348.55/570     = $234.79 per year,  $39.13 bimonthly.

 Now the bad news is that you’re not charged $71.06 you’re really charged $75.92. Why is this?

The city decided to reduce the number of people in the multifamily units. This will reduce the total number of gallons the multifamily units are really using and increases the percentage the single family units have too pay, which is the city’s purpose for changing the number of people per household for multifamily units. The result of changing the number of gallons will increase the percentage of what the single family units will pay by 7% and reduce the percentage that the multifamily will have to pay.. 

Using the numbers from the 2010 sewage revenue report manual you would change the single family to 3.37 PPH from 3.45, multifamily to 2.05 PPH from 2.75 PPH and the mobile homes would stay the same at 1.9 PPH.

following the steps as before the new calculated fees would be as follows:

1 step:

Single family  3.37 PPH * 65 gallons daily * 365 days a year = 79953.25 gallons per year (106.89 HCF)
Multifamily    2.05 PPH * 60 gallons daily * 365 days a year =  44895 gallons per year (60.02 HCF)
Mobile homes 1.9 PPH * 65 gallons daily * 365 days a year = 45,077.5 gallons per year (60.26 HCF)
2 step:

Now you need to calculate total HCF of all the types and sum up each  HCF of all the types.

Single family  12264 * 109.42 HCF per parcel = 1,342,010.33 HCF.
Multifamily      6397 * 60.02 HCF per parcel    =    383,947.94 HCF.
Mobile homes   570 * 60.26 HCF per parcel    =      34,350.50 HCF.
The total is 1,310898.96 HCF + 383947.94 HCF + 34,350.50 HCF = 1729197.4 HCF.
 3 step:
 The next step is to find what percentage of each type of parcel to the total gallons of water used.
Single family 1,310898.96 HCF / 1729197.4 HCF = 75.81%.
Multifamily     383,947.94 HCF / 1729197.4 HCF = 22.20%
Mobile homes  34,350.50 HCF / 1729197.4 HCF  = 1.98%

Notice now that the percentage of the total bill for single family units went up from 70.95% to 75.81%. This trick was deliberately done to charge more for single family units.

4 step:

Multiply the percentage for each parcel type by the total charge to find  the yearly charge for parcels of that type  and divide by the number of parcels of that type.

Single family 75.81% *$7,369,096.00 = $5,586,511.6.  $5,586,511.6 / 12264 = $455.52 year charge.
Divide the yearly charge by 6 to find the bimonthly charge.
Bimonthly $455.52 / 6 = $75.92.

Multifamily 22.20% * $7,396,096.00 = $1684830.60.      $1641933.3/ 6397 = $256.97 year charge.
Bimonthly $256.97 / 6 = $42.77.

Mobile homes = 1.98% * $7,396,096.00 = $146,442.7.   $146,442.7/650 = $256.91 year charge.

Bimonthly $256.91 / 6 = $42.81.

The results of this is that the city is calming that their using the people per household from the 2010  sewage report, but the multifamily family rates and the mobile home family rates do not correspond to the bimonthly fees that the city is using. The city is charging $51.06 for multifamily and $33.36 for the mobile homes. The result is the city is playing politics with the numbers, picking winners and losers, The single family units are the losers and paying 7% more than what they should be and multifamily and mobile homes are the winners because their under charged. Single family units should only be charged $71.06 bimonthly charge. What is worse is the city can charge $93.00 bimonthly fee in years 2014/2015 for single family units. Another way to find what you owe is to take the total cost and divide by the total number of HCF units and multiply the number of HCF you use per year. An example total cost $7,396,096.00/1891413.41 = $3.91 per HCF. Single family 109.42 HCF* $3.91= $427.90 per year or $71.32 bimonthly. You can check on what you should be paying by getting out your utility bill and count the number of HCF units in a year and then just multiply that number by $3.91. The bar chart on your bill shows the number of HCF units in a month. Just add up all the HCF bars in the chart for a year. Than you will find out if your over charged or not.

Of course you are not charge on what you really use that asking too much from the city.The city can charge you more using averages for the number of people per household.  Only the business parcels are charged what they actually use. Business and multifamily parcels are the privileged class. Did you notice that multifamily parcels only use 60 gallons a day and every other parcels are 65 gallons a day?  Another gift to the multifamily parcels.

 What can you do when the city overcharges you? There two openings for city council members this year so do not vote for Debby Giordano or  the mayor Jose Esteves  they both  voted for taxing you 7% and they do not care that the fee is unjust and is a violation of Article XIII D.  I asked to have a meeting with the mayor about overcharging sewer charges and he said no.  If you would like to respond to this article send me a email at juno_free@juno.com.

What the city of Milpitas does not want you to know about sewage rates.

What the City of Milpitas does not want you to know about your sewage rates.

Article XIII D of California code requires that the city notify you of the fee basis when the city wants to increase the utility rates. This means the city must calculate the fees for all new utility rate charges.  The city violated the law by not providing this information in the utility notice sent you last year. You probably do not know that Milpitas sewage rates are the highest in Santa Clara County.   Do you know if you're being overcharged for sewer rates? To determine if single residents are overcharged you need to know how the city charges the different parcel owners.  The number of people per household is from a 1975 Santa Clara planning department report and the fee basis is shown below.

 Estimated persons per household (PPH)  times estimated gallons per day times 350 days a year.

Parcel type	PPH	HCF units	year referenced
single family	3.37	106.88	1975 *
single family	3.45	109.42	2010
multifamily	2.05	60.02	1975 *
multifamily	2.75	80.51	2010
Mobile homes	1.9	60.26	2010

* referenced in the 2010 San Jose sewage report.

The 1975 Santa Clara planning department as published the following data for the number people per household (PPH). Single family has 3.37 PPH , multifamily 2.05 PPH and moble homes has 1.90 PPH.

The city uses these averages in the follow way.
1.  Single-family units are estimated at 3.37 persons per household times 65 gallons/day times 365 days a year equals 79,953.25 gallons. This is 106.889 HCF (1 HCF = 748 gallons)
2.  Multi-family units are estimated at 2.05 persons per household times 60 gallons/day times 365 days a year equals 44,895.00 gallons. This is 60.02 HCF.

The census data for 2010 published the following.
Single family units is 3.45 people, multifamily units are not available but the city of Milpitas manipulates this number to get 2.75 for multifamily PPH.
The city has not shown me any reference that that shows the number of gallons of sewage water for single-family units. If you were to use the current number of people per household than the number of people in multifamily units would be 2.75 people and 3.45 in single family units. The reduction in number of people for single family units is 2.312% less, but the reduction in number of multifamily units is 25.45%.  This saves the multifamily units 25.45%  in their fees by using 1975 people per housing unit numbers. This means that instead of 80.51 HCF in sewage water their number would  only be 60.02 HCF.

 Single-family rates are as follows:

Capital cost:                         $91.28 (flow) + $10.15  (BOD) + $8.73 (SS) + $7.42 (NH3) = $117.85.

Variable operating cost:  $161.81 (flow) + $31.13(BOD) + $36.62 (SS) + $41.27(NH3) = $270.83

Capital  cost/HCF:
                        Flow                 BOD                        SS                         NH3   
                 $0.8539/HCF + $0.09495/HCF + $0.081/HCF + $0.06941/HCF =  $1.10 /HCF

Operating cost/HCF
                  $1.588 /HCF  + $.29123/HCF +   $0.34/HCF +   $0.3861/HCF   =   $2.53/HCF

 The total cost per HCF is $1.10 + $2.53 = $3.63/HCF.

 $117.85(capital cost) + $270.83 (variable operating cost) + $67.11 (flat fee) = $455.52 per year.
To get the cost of each component just multiply the 106.889 HCF (single family )  to the numbers that are shown per/HCF. The single family numbers are  calculated above.  As an example  106.89 HCF  x $0.8539 fee/HCF = $91.28 flow for capital cost.

What would be the saving in cost to the multifamily units if they were using 2.05 PPH instead of current number of 2.75 PPH?
2.75 PPH x 365 days x 60 gallons = 60225 gallons/year. Thus 60225 gallons/748 gallons per HCF= 80.514 HCF
2.05 PPH x 365 days x 60 gallons =44895 gallons/year. Thus 44895 gallons/748 gallons per HCF = 60.02 HCF

80.51 HCF x $3.63 fee/HCF = $292.34 yearly fee.
60.02 HCF x $3.63 fee/HCF = $217.93 yearly fee.
 Multifamily  savings would be $292.34 - $217.93 = $74.41 per year.
There are 6394 multifamily family units saving $74.41 for a total of $476,024.58. Where do you think the city is going to collect the money that the multifamily units are saving? This cost will be absorbed by the single family unit to make up the loss from the multifamily units. That  is why your paying $38.00  more for you service and that why your fee is increased by 7%.

The point is that the fee you pay is based on the number of gallons they think your using and the number of people per household. If there are less than 3.37 people living in a single-family unit then sorry, you're screwed. You still have to pay the flat rate as if there are 3.37 people living in your parcel and you're using 65 gallons a day every day of the year. If there is the same number of people living in different family households, why should the single-family unit pay more? Sorry but your screwed.
 
You’re paying $149.16 more today then multifamily units, and your fee can increase by 7% every year.  By the year 2014-2015 you could be paying $245.00 more for the exact same service that multifamily units will pay. This means you're been overcharged for the same service delivered to your parcel then a multifamily parcel which is another violation of the law Article XII ID section 6 that deals with utility rates.
If you conserve water with low flow toilets or shower heads and you're not using 65 gallons a day, you're punished because you live in a single-family unit. Sorry again.
Why business are charged on a fee per HCF and residential units are a flat rate not based on the flow they are actually using is because the city says, get this, "residential consumption can have a large variable outdoor use component for irrigation, swimming pools, etc." Single-family customers do not have separate irrigation meters so their outdoor use could not be accurately estimated. Really is this true? Some businesses have large irrigation problems too and they do not have a separate irrigation meter. Look at Cisco or LSI Logic and look at the water they use for irrigation every day. All business units are charged a fee per HCF regardless if there is an irrigation problem or not.
 I asked City Manager Tom Williams how many residential parcel units have large irrigation usage problems and the city answer is that they do not take any data on this. This means the city cannot back up their own assumption; to say "the city cannot get an accurate sewer charges based on irrigation" is an excuse to not charge a fee per HCF. If the city did charge a fee per HCF then it would not matter how many people live in a housing unit or the gallons used, and the charge would be accurate. The city measures your water consumption.
 You get a water bill every other month showing you how much water is delivered to your parcel. By charging based on averages you're billed for sewage many times more than the water actually going into your parcel. The sewage flow out of your parcel cannot be higher than water total water entering the parcel. The city does not care about this.
 Article XIII D does not recognize business, single, multi-family or mobile homes; every thing is a just a "parcel". The city cleverly changes the definition of a parcel to various labels just as an excuse to charge parcels at different rates.
What does Article XIII D section 6 relating to utility rate actually say? (3) The amount of a fee or charge imposed upon any parcel or person as an incident of property ownership shall not exceed the proportional cost of the service attributable to the parcel.  What does proportional cost mean? As an example let's use your PG&E bill. PG&E charges you a fee per 1,000 watt hours for electricity. If you're a large user of electricity then you get charged more. If there are four people using a lot of electricity for computers, televisions, kitchens stoves, etc., you pay more than if only one or two person lives in housing unit. Basically you're changed for what you actually use, i.e., proportional to what you are actually using. The word is proportional cost, not average charge based on what the city thinks lives in a housing unit. Notice that the wording says "any parcel"; that means even if there is just one household they're overcharging then they're violating the law. The city has more than 5,000 single-family parcels that they are overcharging, because there are less then 3.27 people living in them.
 Below shows the number of people living in Milpitas housing units. There are more than 1,200 units that have only one or two people living in single-family units. This is under the 3.37 people that the city says are in a single-family unit and they are overcharged for the service attributed to the parcel.  Another problem is the difference in fees for single and multiple families' increases in the future for years 2012-2014.
 Expected fiscal year proposed maximum rates for single-family jump from $70.94 in 2011-12 to $93 in 2014-15. Multi-family jumps from $50.68 in 2011-12 to $52.22 in 2014-15. Mobile home users jump from $31.18 in 2011-12 to $40.87 in 2014-15.
 The single-family rate just increased from $70.94 to $75.92, an increase of 7.02% , but multi-family rates increased from $50.68 to $51.06, an increase of only .75% .  Just four months ago the difference in yearly fees from single and multifamily units was $121.56. Today single-family units are paying $149.16 more. In the year 2014, single-family units will pay $244 more than multi-family. Why is this?
Their answer is, "In a relative comparison, the multi-family rates do not climb as steeply, because the estimated multi-family size was reduced relativity more than the estimated single-family size the difference is averaged over four-year period of the increase." The city know that this is not true, but this is what they told me. The city has not provided any documentation to prove this assumption. What this means is that they're changing the number of people arbitrarily.

There are thousands of parcels that have less than the average number people living in them and the average number of gallons used is less than what the city uses for water used per day. The residents that have less than the average people in them are being overcharged for services a violation of Article XIII D, and the people who have more than the average are being undercharged. Your city council members do not care about this either. The city has the number for the number of people per household that is more resent data from various sources. The census is from the year 2010. This report shows that the number of people per household is 3.45 for single family units. The city own calculation for multifamily units is 2.75 but the city does not want to use this data. This means multifamily unit are undercharged by 33%, so single family units must make up the difference in fees.

Milpitas will not disclose the water fixed fee basis

Milpitas will not disclose how the "water fixed rate" fee is calculated and did not disclose the basis for the calculated fees  for any of the utility fees in the notice sent to the parcel owners.

The city of Milpitas will not disclose the basis for the calculated fees for the "water fixed rate fee". This fee went up 15% on one year. When asked in a letter to the city manager Tom Williams, the city response was the following:
Q. What are the charges that when summed up arrive at the water fixed rate fee?
A. "I cannot answer this question because my staff did not perform this calculation you describe."
In another letter to the city asking the same basic question the city response was the following:

 A. "I understand that you believe that the city should have done an independent cost breakdown to develop a new meter charge. The city is not required to do so."

Comment:
In order to increase a utility rate, fee Article XIII D require that you must first calculate the fee and then you must disclose that fee in the notice sent to the public. The city did not calculate the fee and did not disclose how the fee is calculated in the notice sent to the parcel owners.

Article XIII D section 6 part (1) states:
(1) The parcels upon which a fee or charge is proposed for imposition shall be identified. The amount of the fee or charge proposed to be imposed upon each parcel shall be calculated. The agency shall provide written notice by mail of the proposed fee or charge to the record owner of each identified parcel upon which the fee or charge is proposed for imposition, the amount of the fee or charge proposed to be imposed upon each, the basis upon which the amount of the proposed fee or charge was calculated, the reason for the fee or charge, together with the date, time, and location of a public hearing on the proposed fee or charge. This means that the city must disclose how this fee and all other fees are calculated.

If the city increases a tax on the parcel owners, it must first calculate the new tax and then provide in the notice sent to the parcel owners the basis for the increased tax. In the notice sent to the public in 2011 on utility rates, the city did not disclose how any of the utility rate fees was calculated.  Why are we even paying these city employees a salary?  The higher you pay the city employees the worst service you get.