in other words/city news
Creature Comforts ~ Time to Travel
By Michal Smith
June begins the travel season for many of us
and we often want to include Fido or Fluffy in our trips.
There are many great products designed to
keep our furry friends, and owners, safe when traveling
together in the car/plane etc. For the car, there are pet
seat belts (also called safety harnesses), booster seats,
barriers, and crates. Pet seatbelts are made to simply
attach to the car’s own seatbelt. These assure your pet
stays put if the vehicle’s brakes come on fast and that
they don’t fly into the front seat or worse yet, through
a windshield in the event of an accident. Pet Booster
seats are also available for the smaller dogs that would
“swim” in just the belt. An added feature to the safety
harness is that you can use it as a walking harness when
making a pit stop. It just unclicks from the car and then
the pet’s lead can easily attach right to it. Creatures of-
fers a variety of safety harnesses and seats and can or-
der any specific size barrier for your vehicle.
Once to your destination, if swimming is on
the agenda, consider a pet lifejacket. Dogs usually love
to swim but they, like us, should have a lesson or two to
feel comfortable. Although swimming usually comes
easily to most dogs, a lifejacket can give us peace of
mind about our pet’s safety. Come in to the store and
get your pooch properly fitted anytime.
When traveling with pets, it’s always a good
idea to pack a bag for him/her that includes water, food
and dishes, an extra collar and leash, extra poop bags,
paper towels or wipes in the case your pet gets car sick
and any medications your pet takes regularly. For the
ultra-prepared pet owner, Pet first aid kits are a great
addition to the vehicle’s console or glove compartment
june6
2013
9
for any emergency.
For airline travel with cats or dogs it’s a good
idea to know the airline’s requirements for pet travel
and the exact size of any pet carrier you wish to take
on the plane with you. And, a pet carrier that you take
on the plane will be counted as a personal carry-on so
you’ll want to plan around that fact.
For any long distance traveling, consider
checking with your vet beforehand for any calming or
other medication that might assist your pet arrive in one
piece. This is always a good time to update your pet(s)
ID tags and /or chip registration info, and vaccines.
Creatures offers grooming services when you
need your friend to look and smell their very best, by
appointment at 503-429-PETS (7387). Open 7 days a
week! (Mon-Fri 10-6; Sat 10-5; Sun 12-4). 998 Bridge
Street.
City Council Discusses Sewer Rates WOEC Current: Rate Design
The Vernonia City Council held a Pub-
lic Hearing on a recent sewer rate study that
was conducted by FCS. During the hearing the
Council heard a presentation from Doug Gab-
bard of FCS who explained how the rate study
was conducted. Gabbard also presented two
financing options for the upcoming wastewater
upgrade project as well as two rate design alter-
natives for Council to consider.
The City of Vernonia began an upgrade
of its wastewater facility before the 2007 flood.
The City must now complete that upgrade at
an additional cost of $5-6 million dollars. Last
fiscal year the wastewater service operated at a
deficit. According to City staff, the City must
act to stabilize this fund and position itself to
pay for the remaining upgrade project.
Gabbard of FCS presented the new
sewer rate study to the Council and explained
the three main considerations he used to devel-
op new rates: 1) consider possible policy objec-
tives the City may have; 2) forecast all costs,
including operations, capital and debt service
to deduce revenue requirements needed to op-
erate the fund; 3) decide how to charge custom-
ers to meet that revenue requirement. Gabbard
explained that it is important to charge custom-
ers in way that reflects their burden on the util-
ity system.
Gabbard explained that the new rate
study includes a three year phase-in of a ninety
day minimum fund balance that would bring
the City up to industry standards.
Gabbard told council that FCS used
three assumptions while creating the rate study:
1) a zero growth rate in population-if popula-
tion grows rates will decrease, if it shrinks rates
will increase; 2) the $31 sewer loan repayment
charge on current monthly bills is considered
non rate revenue, is a fixed number, is not
included in the rate figures he presents, and
$31 needs to be added in to calculate the final
monthly charge to customers. 3) The $5-6 mil-
lion needed to complete the upgrade project
will be financed.
The City currently charges each cus-
tomer a flat rate of $53 for sewer.
Gabbard presented two scenarios for
financing the rest of the upgrade project: 1) a
20 year DEQ loan at 2.9% interest 2) a 40 year
USDA loan at 2.75% and also includes the pos-
sibility of grant funds. If any grant funds are re-
ceived it would lower the amounts he presented
under the USDA financing.
Gabbard provided two possible rate
design alternatives to meet revenue require-
ments: 1) A flat rate which would require an
increase to $67.95 if the City uses DEQ financ-
ing or $59.94 with USDA financing. 2) A Pub-
lic Works Committee recommended rate which
is a combination of a fixed charge based on
meter size and variable charge based on winter
water consumption. Under the DEQ financing
option the fixed charge would be $40.27 plus
$4.54 per 1,000 gallons used; under the USDA
option the fixed charge would be $35.52 plus
$4.01 per 1,000 gallons used. Gabbard ex-
plained that those rates are for most residential
customers. Other customers with larger meters
will pay higher rates.
Vernonia School District Superin-
tendent Dr. Ken Cox was the only citizen to
testify at the hearing and expressed support
for spreading the cost among all customers
based on usage. He expressed concern about
the huge increase that the school will pay on
the fixed charge because of their large meter
size. City Administrator Bill Hack responded
that the City has discovered, through a recent
water rate study and this sewer rate study, that
rates have not matched costs and also that the
previous rate design for certain customers was
inaccurate and that those customers have been
undercharged.
Council will meet again in a workshop
on June 10 th to discuss the financing options.
They did not make any final decision at the
May 20 th City Council meeting.
By Marc Farmer
WOEC General Manager
To provide reliable
electric service to its members, an
electric cooperative must receive
sufficient revenues to recover
its costs, including operation
and maintenance costs, and
administrative costs. We are a
not for profit cooperative, but we
must be able to cover our costs to
provide service. Cost of service
studies are among the basic
tools of ratemaking. The primary
objective of a Cost of Service
Analysis (COSA) is to identify
the cost of providing service to
each rate class as a function of
load and service characteristics.
A cost of service study analysis
can provide a useful guideline
for assigning cost responsibility
to each customer classification
in a way that avoids unjustifiable
price discrimination. A COSA
also provides information useful
for designing individual rate
schedules during the rate design
phase. Adequate cost recovery
is a necessary condition for
maintaining a financially viable
electric cooperative.
WOEC is working on
a new rate design and revenue
requirement study. Along with the
COSA information, we will look
at existing rates, classifications,
costs, and demand charges to
determine whether they fit the
current makeup of our system
and membership. The revenue
requirement gives the design
point for rates, or how much
revenue should be produced.
After revenue requirements are
set and cost analysis performed,
we can design the rate structure.
The
COSA
was
completed last fall by Staff
using a model from and the
assistance
of
Cooperative
Finance Corporation. The results
determined that it currently costs
the Co-op approximately $67 per
meter per month to maintain our
system. We have conducted three
COSAs since 2005. The first
set our monthly cost per meter
for residential at $69.69. The
second was done after the three
FEMA events of 2006, 2007,
and 2008/09 which significantly
skewed the monthly cost per
meter per month to $108. The
current COSA has the monthly
residential rate at $66.49. We will
have to consider whether or not
the storm events are now the new
normal and which COSA cost is
reasonable. If you average the
three COSA numbers for the last
7 years, we would need a monthly
cost of $81.67 to cover the normal
costs plus a reserve sufficient to
cover the costs of storm events.
The new rate design will
need to cover all of our costs,
make sure we have the right
classifications and that the new
rates distribute them equitably
and fairly. The new rate structure
will be implemented on October
1, 2013. Please watch the next
few issues of Ruralite and our
website for more information as
we work through the process of
the new rate design.
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