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