2020 Utility Rate Study

In May of 2019, the City of Moscow contracted with FCS Group to assist in a Water and Sewer Utility rate study. Rate studies are conducted periodically to assure that the costs of services are in alignment with the revenue to the utilities, and that said costs are allocated in as equitable a manner as possible among the users of the system. The information on this page lays out the basics of Moscow’s system, and explains proposed rate adjustments. The structure that follows has been presented to a Citizen Rate Committee (CRC). After analyzing the data, the CRC recommended adoption of the proposed structure. We wanted to be sure all of our residents had a chance to provide feedback, so a public comment period took place from June 22, 2020 through July 2, 2020. Responses can be found in the Customer Questions and Answers section of this page.

Click here to view the study report.

Water & Sewer Utility Rate Study Video

FCS Group Rate Study Presentation, May 28, 2020

This is a recording of the initial presentation to the Citizen Rate Committee. Some of the numbers in this presentation have been further refined, but the structure and general content is consistent.

Citizen Rate Committee Report

2020 Water and Sewer Utility Rate Study Citizen Rate Committee Report (PDF)

  1. How will these changes affect my residential water and sewer bills?
  2. What is the estimated/possible impact for a specific customer?
  3. Is the Phase 5 for the Water Reuse & Reclamation Facility (WRRF) the phase that deals with effluent temperature reduction?
  4. How do car washes fit into the scheme?
  5. Should there be some consideration of the more commercial aspects of “churches” that extend beyond their primary use?
  6. Do the water rate computations include the capital costs of maintenance and/or replacement of the reservoirs/water towers?
  7. Some explanation of how water use and sewer use are going up 0.85 and 0.75% per year when the population growth is a pretty steady 1.0 - 1.2% per year. This does not, on the surface, make sense.
  8. Has/is the U of I been part of this process? It seems they will be impacted by the sewer rates and assuring they know what’s being contemplated is necessary.
  9. On slide 19 of the presentation, “multi-family” Is listed as a “non-residential” use. But on slide 24, it seems to reappear as a residential use. I was a bit confused on that - clarification please?
  10. Are the rates based on actual cost of service to deal with the biosolids/FOG produced? How did we parse-out those rates?
  11. Does the study include enough “buffer” to allow for sufficient funds to be generated if users decrease their consumption/output dramatically in order to reduce their costs?
  12. What if many of the commercial clients ask for, and are granted a reduction in their classification? Has the impact of that on the revenue stream been contemplated?
  13. The two reserves cited here are ‘one time’ pools of funds, there is not a need to newly replace the reserve in each successive year. Is that right?
  14. Slide 24*: Where does the data for flow/BOD/TSS for the various accounts come from? Why are BOD and TSS always the same figure, for a given customer?
  15. Two Classes jump +/- 5% COSA. Does that mean we won’t uniformly apply the 2.25% annual increase to sewage costs to all customers in this rate cycle?
  16. What is the total cost UI should expect to pay in the coming years for sewage? With declining enrollment, should volumes be reevaluated?
  17. Non-Residential - Low, - Medium, - High. Almost identical # of customers, but higher ccf for medium. Confused by difference between flows and % fund allocation for high and medium.
  18. What have other communities done in response to virus, delay for a year?
  19. Adversely affected customers, will the City be conducting outreach?
  20. How does the General Facilities Charge (GFC) apply to existing buildings that are being split?
  21. Shouldn’t Multifamily use the same kind of consumption based system as the Non-residential class?
View All