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.