City Plan's Rate Hikes? Trying to Justify Rate Hikes?

Hey Gramps is there a "Consultant" that ever told the city to bill the citizen less? If so hire that Consultant. Is there a "Consultant" that found Sewer Fees and Payments were misused and resulted in Legal action against the "Management" of the funds? City Plan's Rate Hikes? Trying to Justify Rate Hikes? Read the Scope of Work at http://www.cityofgrandterrace.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=780 Once upon a time in Grand Terrace the City of Grand Terrace did not write bills for water/sewer/trash it was part of the Water Bill produced by Riverside Highland Water Company. At the time thinking was, hey they send out monthly bills to everyone in Grand Terrace, let them do it. The did it for free or for a very reasonable fee. After all they were already sending out a bill to everyone in GT already. Then came Schwab. He needed to manage more people in order to justify more money be paid for him. So he hired more people in the finance department, one of the things they did, at a great cost to GT was the billing for Sewer Service. The management was not how do we keep staff cost and numbers low, so the city can live within its reasonable budget. The Management goal was how do we expand the cost of government so Schwab/Council can justify more and more for the "Management" costs billable to the RDA. This included the wages of the City Manager, right down to the compensation paid to the RDA Board and City Council. Operational cost of the city increased as did the Compensation for City Manager Tom Schwab, the City Attorney, and select persons in City Management. City REQUIRED Services should be billed to the citizen at COST. There should not be an added expense beyond the cost of service. Rate Adjustment for Sewers and Utility services should not be dictated by the financial needs for other city functions. Now with budget being tight there may also be a look to see who can do this billing task and at what cost. To hire a "Consultant" is stupid to look into this question is a waste of money. There are three entities who should be considered primary service providers for this task. City of Colton who provides the sewer treatment service. The Water Company, Burrtec Solid Waste that sends out bills to every home already. Then there are the other monthly bills we all get. That would be Power and Gas. They too would be candidates for billing the sewer service. The Sewage Treatment Rates should be no more than the contract requirements for sewage treatment, and a small fee for Sewer Pipe Repairs to be added to a Sewage Pipe Fund to be used exclusively for the sole purpose of repair and replacement of Sewer Lines. If the current rates paid by GT Residents exceeds the Cost of Service Provided by the City of Colton, then those funds should be fully accounted for and in the appropriate reserve account. IF NOT there should be a criminal investigation of the Finance Department up to the Former City Manager and possibly members of the past city council. (We have no way of knowing what went on behind those closed doors.) In the City of Colton the Sewer Fees may be higher than what the City of Grand Terrace Pays Colton, because City of Colton repairs the Sewer Lines in Colton, but not in Grand Terrace. Some of the folks in GT would be Shocked to see a City of Colton Crew fixing a sewer pipe that lead to their sewer plant. This justification no doubt allowed the City of GT to shave off some of what we pay monthly with the reasoning that those Sewer Excess Funds would pay for sewer line repair and clearing. To hire a consultant behind closed doors by the means proposed smacks of the intent of Raising the Utility Rates in order to fund expenses beyond the Cost of the Service being provided. Citizens should be ALERTED to the Tactic. If this is done the result is a HIDDEN TAX on every home and business in Grand Terrace, which will be placed upon the citizens without voter approval. If this is a simple billing service situation a "Request for Proposal" should go out to the above providers, and an open request for proposal for an Independent Service Provider could also be made in the remote possibility that some individual working at home would be able to do this as a home based business. However, the actual end payee may have a voice in the matter. The City of Colton Sewer Operational Fund or what ever that is called in Colton may demand approval on the future collection for the services they provide Grand Terrace. Do they get paid by the gallon or by the hookup? Are we paying more than Colton Citizens? Is the City of Grand Terrace getting a cut of the bill to off set the Maintenance of the Sewer Pipes? Of course these details should have a historical perspective of past contracts and accounting documents. Oh have I forgotten, the Era of Schwab and Berry, no, so there is a possibility the clear delineation of the Colton / GT sewer treatment payment reimbursement plan may not be clear in a contract. Why write about sewer and trash and water? Well a reader called the following Request for Proposal from the City's Web Sight, to my attention and asked what's up with this. Hence the writing, and opinion. Let's remember, septic tanks were the norm prior to being a City. This needed to be changed for health reasons. The sewer lines from the house to the curb was paid for by the home owner. The sewer lines in the street were paid for by a bond approved by the VOTERS of Grand Terrace. Rate Hikes past the Cost of the Sewer Treatment Services should be approved by the Voters, and such funds should be used exclusively to fund Sewer Pipe Repair and Maintenance. * * * * * * * The City of Grand Terrace ("City") is seeking an experienced, responsible, capable and professional consulting firm ("Consultant") with proven experience in COMPREHENSIVE UTILITY BILLING SOLUTIONS FOR SEWER BILLING AND ORDINANCE REVISION. The Consultant shall perform the general and specific tasks as described in the Scope of Work section of this Request for Proposal (RFP). The City intends to select the most qualified Consultant for the Project. Proposals shall be evaluated by the City’s Screening and Selection Committee on the basis of professional expertise in user rate modeling and ordinance development services. You are hereby invited to submit a proposal by the Submittal Date and Time of April 28, 2011, at 2:00 p.m., based upon the requirements and conditions set forth in this RFP. The full RFP is available online at www.cityofgrandterrace.org/bids. Posted by GrandPaTerrace at Thursday, March 24, 2011