Agenda - Council Work Session - 12/07/2010

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In addition to the Metropolitan Council, there are currently at least five state agencies with water related jurisdiction. There are also several federal agencies involved in water issues. Metro Cities supports the Metropolitan Council activities associated with clarifying local, regionaI and state water supply roles. Metro Cities encourages the Metropolitan Council to consider the inter - relationships of wastewater treatment, storm water management and water supply. Metro Cities also supports on -going analytical work that will help streamline and consolidate the myriad and often conflicting water supply permitting processes. Any state and regional regulations and processes should be explicit in the Water Supply Plan. Further, regional monitoring and data collection benefits should be borne as shared expenses between the regional and local units of government. Metro Cities further supports efforts to identify capital funding sources to assist with municipal water supply projects. The 2010 Legislature expanded the membership of the Advisory Committee to include four officials from the collar counties, and extended the Advisory Committee to December, 2012. The extension of the committee, which includes five metro area municipal officials, will allow the committee to continue to play a strong role in the development and direction of water supply planning activities as the Master Plan is further developed and refined with additional information and data as they become available. Metro Cities opposes the insertion of the Metropolitan Council as another regulator in the water supply arena. Metro Cities further opposes the elevation of water supply to "Regional System" status, or the assumption of Met Council control and management of municipal water supply infrastructure. At this time, we oppose any regional taxes or fees for water supply planning. IV-M. ' Service Availability Charge (SAC). Metro Cities supports a SAC program-that emphasizes equity, simplification and lower rates. The Met Council adopted changes to its SAC program that were implemented in January, 2010. Under the new changes, when a redeveloping property's new use requires lower wastewater capacity than what was used in the prior seven years, SAC credits are limited to the amount needed on the site for the new use. A property developing at the same or lesser wastewater demand will not incur SAC nor get credits. Metro Cities supported modifications to SAC rules adopted by the Metropolitan Council in 2008 that allow for a voluntary transfer of SAC credits from one metro city to another and from one site to another within a city, for projects that, without the credits, would mean that a business would move its operations out of state, under specific conditions. Metro Cities supported this change with the understanding that these transfers will be limited to economic development projects with statewide significance and as such are likely to occur only in rare circumstances. Because of the economic recession, SAC revenues are in a steep decline. As a result, the Metropolitan Council adopted changes, phased in over three years, to the SAC program 32 Metro Cities