NFW-01-12-00005-EP Adoption of a Schedule of Rates, Fees and Charges

1/4/12 N.Y. St. Reg. NFW-01-12-00005-EP

NEW YORK STATE REGISTER

VOLUME XXXIV, ISSUE 1

January 04, 2012

RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES

NIAGARA FALLS WATER BOARD

EMERGENCY/PROPOSED RULE MAKING

NO HEARING(S) SCHEDULED

 

I.D No. NFW-01-12-00005-EP

Filing No. 1373

Filing Date. Dec. 19, 2011

Effective Date. Dec. 19, 2011

Adoption of a Schedule of Rates, Fees and Charges

PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following action:

Proposed Action:

Amendment of sections 1950.15 and 1950.20 of Title 21 NYCRR.

Statutory authority:

Public Authority Law, section 1230-j

Finding of necessity for emergency rule:

Preservation of public health, public safety and general welfare.

Specific reasons underlying the finding of necessity:

It is necessary for the preservation of the public health, safety and general welfare and that compliance with the requirements of subdivision one of section 202 would be contrary to the public interest. The Board regulations include a schedule of rates, fees and charges imposed upon all persons served by the system. The Board recently considered estimates for its expenses and revenues for the fiscal year 2012 commencing January 1, 2012 and ending on December 31, 2012. As part of this consideration, the Board recognized an increase in expenses of operations and a projection of revenues from its existing rate payers in the City of Niagara Falls and related service area. In addition, the Board considered its debt service and its covenants with its bondholders with respect to bonds that were issued as of the acquisition date. In order to maintain the Board on a sound financial status with sufficient resources to provide necessary water and wastewater services to all persons who sue the System, the Board adopted an increase in the schedule of rates, fees and charges."

Subject:

Adoption of a schedule of rates, fees and charges.

Purpose:

To pay for the increased costs necessary to operate, maintain and manage the system, and to achieve covenants with bondholders.

Text of emergency/proposed rule:

Section 1950.15. Charges for fire protection.

(a) Except where fire flows are metered together with normal water service to a water customer, no charge shall be made for the actual use of water for fire protection purposes. Availability charges for fire protection shall be as hereinafter set forth.

(b) The availability charge for each public fire hydrant inside the city boundary shall be [$25.00] $103.00 per year, payable by the city fire department to the water board.

(c) the availability charge for each public fire hydrant located outside the city boundary shall be $150 per year, payable in advance to the water board.

(d) The availability charge for service to private fire protection services inside the city boundary shall be the annual amounts as identified in the board schedule of rates, payable in advance, based on the nominal diameter of each service at its point of connection to the water board main.

(e) The availability charge for service to private fire protection services located outside the city boundary shall be 200 percent of the fee chargeable for similar service inside the city boundary.

(f) The requirement that meters shall be installed on all service branches shall be waived in the case of service branches intended for fire protection only. However, a detector check valve is required on fire protection lines.

(g) Water may not be used from service that has a detector check valve, except for fire protection.

(h) A detector check valve to indicate when water has been used shall be installed on all fire services in a building with 10 or more rooms rented or hired out to be occupied for sleeping purposes.

(i) Plans for fire protection installations in multiple dwellings must be approved by the city building inspector and the city fire department before approval by the director.

(j) All fire protection branches must be provided with a valve between the street main and the building or private fire line supplied with water.

(k) The water board shall place its seal upon any opening or valve connected with or to any fire protection service branch to seal such valve either open or closed.

(l) When a water board seal is broken, either accidentally or in order to obtain water for fire protection, the director must be notified immediately by the person breaking the seal or by any employee of the water board having knowledge thereof. A new seal will then be set and so recorded.

Section 1950.20. Schedule of rates, fees and charges.

(a) This schedule sets forth the rates, fees and other charges applicable to the provision of water supply, wastewater and related services by the Niagara Falls Water Board to all property owners, users and other persons as of January 1, 2012. All property owners, users and other persons who receive services from the water board shall pay to the water board the rates, fees and charges set forth in this schedule.

(b) the following rates shall be charged and collected for the use of water within the city, supplied by the water board as hereby fixed and established:

First 20,000 cu. ft. per quarter, [$2.85] $2.88 per 100 cu. ft.

Next succeeding 60,000 cu. ft. per quarter, [$2.47] $2.49 per 100 cu. ft.

Next succeeding 120,000 cu. ft. per quarter, [$2.09] $2.11 per 100 cu. ft.

Over 200,000 cu. ft. per quarter, [$1.73] $1.75 per 100 cu. ft.

The minimum charge for water consumed in any premises within the city for any quarter or portion thereof shall not be less than [$37.00] $37.44.

(c) The following rates shall be charged and collected for the use of water outside the city for residential and commercial purposes supplied by the water board as hereby fixed and established:

First 20,000 cu. ft. per quarter, [$7.62] $7.70 per 100 cu. ft.

Next 60,000 cu. ft. per quarter, [$6.65] $6.72 per 100 cu. ft.

Next succeeding 120,000 cu. ft. per quarter, [$5.54] $5.60 per 100 cu. ft.

Over 200,000 cu. ft. per quarter, [$4.66] $4.71 per 100 cu. ft.

The minimum charge for water consumed in any premises located outside the city for domestic purposes for any quarter or portion thereof shall not be less than [$99.06] $100.10.

(d) Water used for testing fire hoses, filling tanks, swimming pools, testing sprinkler systems, and like use shall be billed at the highest residential unit rate enumerated in subdivision (b) of this section. The amount used may be either estimated in accordance with the size of the pipe through which taken at the pressure furnished, or determined by the use of a temporary meter rented to the user by the water board. The use of the latter method shall be at the discretion of the director and may require a refundable deposit.

(e) Use of hydrant for any purpose whatsoever shall be subject to a rental charge of $1.50 per day or partial day.

(f) The cost of hydrant use will include a fee of $35.00 for backflow device certification, payable at the time of hydrant use application. In addition, daily hydrant and meter rental rates and security deposit amounts shall be established by the director based upon the real cost to the water board.

(g) In addition to the above schedule rates for water consumed there shall be assessed a demand charge for each user's meter as set forth below.

Size and Type	Charge Per quarter
Under 1" Disc	[$2.86] $3.70
1" Disc	[$7.13] $25.00
1½" Disc	$30.00
2" Disc	[$10.27] $40.00
2" Compound	[$17.13] $40.00
3" Compound	[$32.81] $50.00
4" Compound	[$48.51] $100.00
6" Compound	[$80.18] $220.00
8" Compound	[$95.88] $250.00
10" Compound	[$111.57] $275.00
12" Compound	[$128.69] $400.00

(h) The rates set forth in this section, however, shall not apply to any user of water with whom there is now outstanding a valid and binding contract with the city and/or water board to supply water at a rate different than the rates stated in this schedule, or to users obtaining water service from the Village of LaSalle prior to May 4, 1927.

(i) In the event the water board or the director terminates water supply service to any property owner or user, such property owner, user or users located at such property shall pay a reactivation fee in the amount of $75.00 to the water board prior to the supply of water.

(j) There shall be small meter testing charge of $100.00 for the bench testing of any meter less than two inches in size.

(k) An account reactivation charge of $100.00 shall be applied whenever a meter is re-installed and an account reactivated.

(l) The water board shall charge a $25.00 final read fee for all owner requested meter reads.

(m) A hydrant flow test charge shall be applied whenever an owner, user or his agent requests a hydrant flow test.

(n) The annual availability charge for private fire protection service shall be:

Diameter of Service Connection	Annual Fee
2" or less	$66.00
3"	$95.00
4"	$168.00
6"	$380.00
8"	$670.00
10"	$1,050.00
12"	$1,510.00

(o) A backflow submittal fee of $25.00 shall be charged for all backflow plans submitted to the water board for approval and forwarding to the State Health Department.

(p) There shall be a [$50.00] $120.00 inspection fee for each request for a cross-connection inspection.

(q) There shall be a [$30.00] $60.00 availability charge applied on a quarterly basis to all accounts inactivated pursuant to section 1950.8(m) of this Part.

(r) In addition to the above rates, fees and charges, the following rates shall apply to all users with respect to sewer or wastewater services prescribed in the water board's wastewater regulations in Part 1960 of this Title. There shall be two user classes as provided in Part 1960 of this title, to wit: commercial/small industrial/residential users (CSIRU) and significant industrial users (SIU).

(l) CSIRU. Sewer rates for the CSIRU class are determined by total metered water consumption in each quarter. The schedule of quarterly charges for the CSIRU class shall be as follows:

SCHEDULE I

Minimum charge per quarter	[$46.50] $46.91 with a usage allowance of up to 1,300 cubic feet
Additional usage in excess of 1,300	[$3.79] $3.83 per 100 cubic feet

The following rates shall be charged and collected for the use of sewer outside the city for residential and commercial purposes as determined by total metered water consumption per quarter. The schedule of quarterly charges for the users outside the city shall be as follows:

Minimum charge per quarter	$125.25 with a usage allowance of up to 1,300 cubic feet
Additional usage in excess of 1,300	$10.22 per 100 cubic feet

(2) SIU.

(i) Conventional pollutant parameter charges. Sewer rates for the SIU class each quarter are based on measured quantities of the actual discharge parameters: flow, suspended solids and soluble organic carbon. Such determination shall be made by the water board and shall be based upon five representative 24-hour composite samples taken quarterly, at such locations as are adequate to provide proper representation. The schedule of charges for conventional pollutant parameters shall be as follows:

SCHEDULE II

Pollutant Parameters	Rate
Flow	$2,678.83 per million gallons
Suspended Solids	$0.89 per pound
Soluble Organic Carbon	$1.53 per pound

(ii) Substances of concern parameter charges. SIU's, who have wastewater discharge permits which limit any substance of concern listed in Schedule III contained in this subparagraph, will be billed for discharge of these substances based on the unit rates shown in Schedule III. Discharge loading for billing purposes shall be determined by arithmetic average of the last six acceptable self-monitoring results. At the option of the SIU, increased self-monitoring can be performed. For billing purposes, when six or more acceptable results are obtained over the three month billing period, all such results shall be used in the computation of the arithmetic average, with a requirement that there be at least two sample results for each month. Average discharge loadings will then be multiplied by the corresponding unit rates from Schedule III to obtain total charges per quarter for each substance of concern listed in the SIU's wastewater discharge permit. All substances of concern charges will be added to the charges for conventional parameters, as specified in subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, to computer the total quarterly sewer rate.

SCHEDULE III

SUBSTANCES OF CONCERN UNIT CHARGES

Parameters	Unit Rate
Benzene	$303.60 per pound
Chloroform	$54.06 per pound
Dichloroethylenes	$330.33 per pound
Toluene	$14.64 per pound
Trichloroethanes	$68.65 per pound
Trichloroethylene	$87.62 per pound
Vinyl Chloride	$43.86 per pound
Monochlorotoluenes	$2.96 per pound
Tetrachloroethylene	$40.90 per pound
Total Phenols	$6.68 per pound

(iii) Billing. SIU charges shall be billed on a monthly basis by the water board. The first and second monthly billings in each quarter shall be estimated and shall be one-third of the total billing in the immediately preceding quarter. The third monthly bill in each quarter shall be based upon actual discharge quantities for that quarter and shall reflect adjustments for the estimated billings in that quarter.

(s) Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, all terms contained herein shall have the meanings set forth in the regulations adopted by the water board in this Part and Part 1960 of this Title, as applicable.

This notice is intended:

to serve as both a notice of emergency adoption and a notice of proposed rule making. The emergency rule will expire March 17, 2012.

Text of rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:

John J. Ottaviano, Niagara Falls Water Board, 172 East Avenue, Lockport, New York 14094, [phone], email: [e-mail]

Data, views or arguments may be submitted to:

Same as above.

Public comment will be received until:

45 days after publication of this notice.

Regulatory Impact Statement, Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, Rural Area Flexibility Analysis and Job Impact Statement

Statements and analyses are not submitted with this notice because the amended rule is within the definition contained in section 102(2)(a)(ii) of the State Administrative Procedure Act.