Marini for Mayor

           Robert Marini for Mayor of Milpitas.

For the last 4 years I attended the city council meeting to represented the residents of Milpitas in an effort to make Milpitas a better place to live and improve the quality of life for residents. The city has opposed these efforts by overcharging for utility services. Your paying over a million dollars more today for just sewage service then last year. 

Is your life better today then 4 years ago? The city was increasing your water rate by 14% ever year. This year your fee went up from $2.63 to $ 6.43  this is a 145% increase . You sewage charge increased 14.5% in just one year. These rate increases are way above the rate of inflation and now Milpitas water rates are the highest in Santa Clara county. Milpitas also has the sewage rates in Santa Clara county.

The following is my platform.

1. Uphold the constitution of the state of California.
I have informed the city council that they violated California constitution Article XIII D section 6, which pertains to utility rates. The city council members have ignored this over the last three years. The council members represent the city against your interests. They ignore the state constitution laws because there is no penalty for ignoring state law.  The basis requirement of a city council member is to uphold the laws of the state .

 The city's council members have ignored the following laws:
 California constitution Article XIII D section 6 1:
The city does not provide the basis of the calculated fees in the written notice sent to the public. This means is the city has not disclosed the cost, number of parcels, gallons per day and persons per household parameters necessary to calculate the fee, which is required by section:

California constitution Article XIII D section 6 (B) 1
The city violated this law by overcharging parcel owners for sewage service. The total fee collected was exceeded  the money needed to pay the expenses for the sewage charge. The city had a reserved fund of $8 Million and still overcharged the residents by $291,000.

California constitution Article XIII D section( B) 3
was violated because the sewage fee is not proportional fee.  A proportional charge means your not charged for what you use, which is a fee per HCF (748 gallons), just like your water fee, but instead are charged a fixed fee. This means no matter how much sewage is generated your charged the same. The flat rate method of charging for services overcharges parcels that have less then the average people per household and under charges parcels that are over the average.

Seniors are the most negatively effected by a flat rate charge, because there is less then the average number of people per parcel. The type of parcel you live in effects your fee.
It assumed that there are 3.35 people in single family and 2.05 people in multifamily units. Single family units now pay $208 more for the same service that over 7 thousand multifamily parcels pay even if both parcels create the same discharge of water into the sewage system.
 Seniors in single family parcel that have only 2 people or less are overcharged service. They should be charged 2/3 of 86.92. If you're on vacation for two months and do not create any sewage water your still charged the same. Business are charged for what they actually use. They are charged proportional to what they actually use, but residential parcels are not.

2. There should be a moratorium on new housing development because of the drought. The city is asking a you to voluntarily conserve 20% more water but the city is always increasing the number of parcels every year.  Next year it will be mandatory 20% reduction in water usage. How is the city going to decease the water usage if it increase the number of parcels every year?

3 No pensions for part time employees. The city council members do not work full time and are paid $100/hour for 23 hours a month. That is very generous salary for part time work but they are also getting a pension. Most council members have full time jobs which provide for a pension. Now they are getting two pensions from multiple sources.

4 The city should stop wasting the tax payer's money for nonsense   projects. The city gave a grant of 1.5 million dollars to SunPower  just to hire 80 minimum paying jobs. The city hired a consultant  for $175,000 to tell the city what goals to achieve based on  community input. With all the commissions the city has it should  not need to ask an outside consultant. The city spent $175,000 just  for a statue and the city council members approved $60,000 for  a feasibility study for a skate park. 

5 The public need to set a term limit of 8 years for service because  the council members are taking money from private interests  groups. Once they get in office the public can not get rid of them  because of the campaign contributions. One council members is a  real estate agent and is always approving new development  because she make money selling homes in her private business.

6. We need to support our schools and provide for  a junior    collage. With the number of students in school this could help  students to get a higher education while remaining in Milpitas.

7. The city should be open and transparent in providing the costs  and other parameters so the residents can determine if they are  charged fairly for utility service. The city employees  should obey  the laws of the constitution of the state of California and the  council members should uphold the laws and honor the oath they  took.

It easier to vote a council member out of office then oppose a unjust utility fee increase.  It takes over 9,500 parcel owners to over turn a fee increase and not one person need to support a tax increase. All you need to remove a council members is a simple majority of votes for the opposing candidate in office.

We need a Mayor that will represent the residents of Milpitas instead of what we have today, which is a Mayor that defends the city against the residents and does not care that your overcharged for service and will not uphold the laws of the state of California.
Please consider Robert Marini for Mayor.

 

The basis for how the city calculates the sewage charge.

 

 

Here is the utility rate notice sent to the public in 2010 for reference.

 

 

 

Notice that there is no basis for how the fees are calculated. This is required by Article 13 D section 6 1

The basis is how the fee is calculated as shown below for all residential homes.
The average number persons per household (PPH) is different for single, multifamily and Mobile homes.

The number of people per household is from the 2010 census.

The formula is as follows
 (( (PPH) *(gallons per day)* (365 days a year)* (number of parcels ) ) /total gallons of all parcels )  * cost of service ) / number of parcels

Single family units: 3.45 PPH * 65 gallons per day * 365 days a year * 12265 parcels  =  1,00,323,730 gallons.
Multifamily units:   2.75 PPH * 60 gallons per day * 365 days a year *  6397 parcels  =     385,259,325 gallons.
Mobile home units|  1.90 PPH * 65 gallons per day * 365 days a year *   570  parcels  =       25,694,175 gallons.
The total of all the gallons for all the household units per year is                                         1,414,77230 gallons.

Multiply the ratio of family type over the total of all housing types by the yearly fee of $7,369.096.00 .

The cost for the single family:
1,003,823,730 gallons / 1,414,77230 gallons * $7,369.096.00 = $5,2228,578.24.
Divide  $5,228,578.24 by 12265 single family units = $426.34 annual fee or bimonthly fee of $71.06.

The cost for the multifamily unit is
 385,259,325 gallons 1,414,77230 gallons * $7,369.096.00 = $2,006,685.50 per year.
Divide $2,006,685.50 by  / 6397 multifamily  parcels  = $313.69 annual fee or bimonthly fee of $52.28

The cost for mobile homes is 
 25,694,175 gallons /1,414,77230 gallons * $7,369.096.00 = $133,832.27
Divide $133,832.27/570 mobile home parcels = $234.79 annual fee or $39.13 bimonthly fee.

resident type	2010  fee	calculated fee	% change
single	$425.64	$426.34	0.16%
multifamily	$304.08	$313.69	3.16%
mobile home	$187.08	$234.79	25.50%

In 2010 the single family units were already paying more than $120 for the same service that the multifamily units are paying but the city of Milpitas did not like the results of the calculations because the new increased fee was less then a $1.00 per year more for single family units from the 2010 fee. The city had to change the result. The city then changed the average number of persons per household from 3.45 to 3.37 for single family units and from 2.75 to  2.05  persons per household for multifamily. Reducing the multifamily unit by 0.7 PPH has a big effect in reducing the amount that multifamily family parcels has to pay for service. Single and multifamily numbers of people went down but the single family went down only .08 PPH (3.45 -3.37), but the multifamily units went down (2.75 -2.05) is 0.70 PPH over 9 times greater then the single family units. Mobile home numbers of PPH remain the same. The result is that the single family fee went up 7% more then in 2010. This is because if you reduce the number of people per household then the gallons of sewage goes down for that housing type, remember that there are 6397 parcels. If the total gallons goes down for one housing type and the cost remains the same ($7,369,096.00)  than the fee will go up for the other housing units  (single family units) and of course the fee for the housing unit that had the reduction in average people per household (PPH) will go down. If you use the same formula with the new numbers the fee for single will go from $71.06 to  $75.98.

The city got the 3.35, 2.05  and 1.90 people per household from the 2010 sewage revenue report. This report  reference to the PPH data from the  1975 Santa Clara development report. So the PPH numbers are over 38 years old statistics.
                                            

resident type	2010  fee	calculated fee	% change
single	$425.64	$455.52	7.02%
multifamily	$304.08	$255.78	-15.88%
mobile home	$187.08	$256.82	37.28%

 
In the table notice that the single family calculated fee is now $455.52 which is 7% higher then the 2010 fee.
The multifamily fee should go down by 15.88% but the city did not want that to happen so they predicted the future fee in 2014/2015 time frame would be higher by 3% so the city just ignores the calculated value above and just average the 2010 fee with the future fee to charge the multifamily units $306.36.  The city ignores the mobile family units as well to charge them a fee of 200.16. What this means is that the city just manipulates the numbers to get everyone to pay what the city wants the residents to pay.
 Comparing the fees collected with the fee needed to pay the bill is shown below will show that the city violated article XIII D section 6 (b) 1 which states:
" Revues derived from the fee or charge shall not exceed the funds required to provide the property related service "

resident type	fee charged	umber of parcels	fee collected
single	$455.52	12264	$5,586,497.28
multifamily	$306.36	6397	$1,959,784.92
mobile home	$200.16	570	$114,091.20
		fee collected	$7,660,373.40
	fee collected to pay bill		$7,369,096.00
		overcharge	$291,277.40

Now you know the reason why you should know the basis for how the fees are calculated to understand the manipulation that the city does to overcharge you for your service.





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