AN ORDINANCE

BY:

NO.

AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND “APPENDIX A – PUBLIC SERVICES RATE SHEET” OF THE OAKWOOD STREETS AND PUBLIC SERVICES CODE TO INCREASE THE WATER SERVICE RATES AND THE SANITARY SEWER UTILITY RATES.

WHEREAS, the City of Oakwood operates three (3) enterprise utility services (water, sanitary sewer, and stormwater) and one (1) quasi-utility service (refuse), for a total of four (4) city services (collectively, “city utilities”), each of which is supported primarily by user fees and not by general tax revenues; and

WHEREAS, as enterprise utility operations, all costs of the Sanitary Sewer Utility and Water Utility are built into the rates charged to Oakwood residents for those services; and

WHEREAS, for its Sanitary Sewer Utility, the city of Oakwood incurs outside costs because it contracts for the use of sewer pipes and wastewater treatment infrastructure operated by the city of Dayton and by Montgomery County; and

WHEREAS, the costs of city personnel and infrastructure maintenance account for approximately 37% of Sanitary Sewer Utility rates charged to Oakwood residents, while the outside costs of contracting services from the city of Dayton and Montgomery County account for approximately 63% of those rates; and

WHEREAS, Oakwood has absorbed sanitary sewer rate increases by Dayton and Montgomery County since 2018 and expects additional increases in both 2024 and 2025; and

WHEREAS, the City Manager has determined that the Sanitary Sewer Utility cannot sustain further increases in these outside costs without an adjustment to Oakwood’s rate, and has proposed an increase to the Sanitary Sewer Utility base rates including both the minimum use charges and the standard consumption rates; and

WHEREAS, in addition, the City Manager has determined that the Water Utility rates must also be increased, including both the minimum use charges and the standard consumption rates, in order to meet operational and anticipated capital needs; and

WHEREAS, rates were last increased for water in 2017 and for sanitary sewer services in 2018; and

WHEREAS, the City Manager presented the recommended rate increases to the citizen Budget Review Committee (“BRC”) as part of the 2023 budget briefings on September 12, 2023 and on October 17, 2023; and

WHEREAS, Council, based on the positive response from the BRC and its own study of the matter, finds that the recommended changes are justified and necessary, and will benefit the general health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Oakwood, and desires to implement the same;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF OAKWOOD, STATE OF OHIO, THAT:

SECTION I.

Appendix A to the Streets and Public Services Code, which is incorporated by reference in the ordinances governing the city’s water, sanitary sewer, stormwater, and refuse utility programs, is hereby amended as shown on the attached exhibit to reflect increases in the minimum use charges and the standard consumption rates for both water and sanitary sewer utilities.

SECTION II.

The rate increases set forth herein shall be effective as of January 1, 2024.