Burlingame sewer and water bills will remain bimonthly, the City Council decided this week following a report that switching to monthly billing to mirror most other cities would cost ratepayers $60 annually on average.
Vice Mayor Michael Brownrigg last year requested the change be examined, pointing to confusion and budgeting issues caused by the city’s once-every-two-month structure. But after studying the issue, city staff determined it would cost an additional $600,000 yearly due to increased time needed to check meters.
“For many people, especially on fixed incomes, getting a $500 bill every two months is a lot harder than a $250 bill once a month, so there really is a family budgeting issue that gets created by our approach,” Brownrigg said.
He said that while the change was currently too expensive to justify, converting to monthly billing or “smart billing” — where ratepayers can track water use in real time — was something “to aspire to.”
Reading the city’s 10,000 meters already takes city staff roughly 440 hours yearly, Public Works Director Syed Murtuza said.
He said the city is currently working to secure a federal grant to aid in switching to smart billing, which would require replacing all the meters at a cost of $1.5 to $2 million.
“That will allow more instantaneous information, [and] that will have an app,” he said, adding that it would allow customers to see in real time water usage from something like flushing a toilet.
Brownrigg said such a system could also prevent people from not realizing they have a leak, a problem that can result in very expensive bills.
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He and others agreed in the meantime the bills should be redesigned to make it clear the charge is for two months, and for both water and sewer services.
“I can't tell you how many times over my 10 years I’ve had to tell people ‘our rates are not higher than our neighbors, we just don’t bill you as often,’” he said.
Ratepayers in the city currently pay less than most others in the county for the two services, with a median monthly cost of $140 for a single-family home compared with the county median of $173.90, according to a city report from last year.
Residents, however, will see the sewer portion of the bill increase this month by 9%, and again by 9% in July for the following two years, per a previously approved rate schedule. Those paying the median cost would see their total monthly bills increase by roughly $4.50 this month, for a total increase of $14.75 by 2024. Water rates will not increase.
The increase is to pay for $137 million worth of work required on the city’s sewer system between now and 2040, including $63 million worth of “high priority” work needed in the next five years, according to Murtuza.
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