[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Questions re: Water Damage

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Burton, Jan

Regarding Ordinance No 8116 adding a new subsection to impose fee on water users in single family homes and amending Chapter 11-1 “Water Utility” by adding a new Subsection to Section 11-1-44 “Water User Fees” authorizing the city manager to pay claims for damage from water main breaks.

First, of all, I applaud Jane for coming up with a suggested solution very quickly! I definitely agree that we need to help our residents with these issues, even though it’s legally not the city’s fault.  I appreciate any sense of urgency we have, because our residents are suffering through the re-building process.

I have the following questions:

  1.  Why are we considering helping residents who have had water flooding but not sewer backups?
  2.  How did we come up with $10K as the maximum payout? In the case of Norwood, at least one resident has significantly more damage. What would be the process to evaluate her situation?
  3.  Is $30M the current amount of money in water utility reserves? How is that currently designated for use, and what is our estimate of potential payout of those funds? (I understand the need to have a reserve, but will this last for 30 years while we increase the billing to our citizens?)
  4.  How do we rationalize $273,600 funding per year (with the suggested $1/month fee) with the projection of paying out substantially less?

Thanks so much!

Jan