Agenda - Council - 01/28/2020 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

As previously noted, Staff wanted to ensure that any municipal water customer (excluding new construction/new development) had an opportunity to realize both water savings and financial savings. Thus, another option available for those customers is a rebate for the replacement of older toilets with a WaterSense labeled toilet. If residents take full advantage of this part of the Program, it could result in an estimated savings of about 900,000 gallons of water (again, based on numbers provided by the Metropolitan Council from the 2015-2017 Water Efficiency Grant Program). The rebates would be available on a first come first served basis, as long as funds last (or until the close of the program, which is June 30, 2022). Rebates for an individual device can be up to $200, and cumulatively, shall not exceed $500 per metered water supply customer. The water supply customer shall be responsible for the sales tax on the device, thus satisfying the requirement that they have a financial investment in the upgrade. There is a wide range of price points for qualifying devices (both WaterSense labeled smart controllers and toilets). The intention is to incentivize the water efficiency upgrades significantly by having the rebate cover as much of the device cost as possible while also attempting to spread the rebates out across a number of households. There are a number of these devices that could be entirely covered by the rebate amount; however, there are also eligible devices that greatly exceed the rebate maximum. Thus, the cap on the rebate amount will help spread the funds out to benefit more property owners. Administration of the rebate program will be coordinated by the Community Development and Engineering Departments, but will also include Finance Staff as well for issuance of the rebates. Per the required Grant Agreement, the City will have to provide quarterly reporting to the Metropolitan Council. Reporting forms will be provided by Metropolitan Council staff and is assumed to include: property address, property type (residential/commercial), device replaced, number of devices, grant amount per device, estimated annual water savings, municipal contribution, and eligible grant amount (rebate amount per device minus municipal contribution). At their January 13, 2020 meeting, the Environmental Policy Board (EPB) reviewed this case and provided support with moving forward. They did, however, note a desire for the City to offer a similar program for any property owner, regardless of whether they were a municipal water customer or not. They acknowledged that those on private wells are not eligible for this grant, but if this program is successful, it should be considered a pilot program the City could build and expand upon in the future with the goal for further reducing demand on groundwater. The Public Works Committee (PWC) also reviewed this information at their January 21, 2020 meeting and was supportive of implementing the program. The PWC also expressed a desire to use this as a pilot program and if successful, explore options to expand the program to all households/businesses, not just those that are municipal water customers. Alternatives Alternative 1: Motion to authorize the execution of the Clean Water Fund Grant Agreement with the Metropolitan Council and accept the $28,000 Water Efficiency Grant. A Smart Irrigation Rebate Program has been on the Environmental Policy Board's Work Plan since 2017 and in 2019 it was added to the City Council's Strategic Plan. This grant will help accomplish that action from both plans. Furthermore, if this program proves to be valuable and effective, it could serve as a blue print for an expanded program that also includes those on private wells. Alternative 2: Motion to not execute the Clean Water Fund Grant Agreement and not accept the grant funds. This action would result in the City having to fully fund any sort of incentive program to reduce the demand on drinking water supply and would seem to contradict action item #25 of the adopted Strategic Plan (Consider Smart Irrigation Rebate Program). Funding Source: