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BID agrees to cover downtown water-meter costs this year; board will revisit during budget cycle
Summary
The BID agreed to pay this year’s bills for three downtown spigot meters assigned to the BID and to treat two meters as part of the BID’s contribution to Roots and Branches; staff will include the meters in the August–September budget discussions.
Board members heard a staff report that five spigots/meters were installed downtown during the Main Street reconstruction; two are paid by parks and three were assigned to the BID about June of last year. Staff told the board that Roots and Branches, the volunteer group that maintains many planting beds downtown, has used some taps and that the BID had been billed for three meters since last summer.
Staff presented three options: (1) the BID pay the meters as a BID expense this year, (2) treat the two meters primarily used by volunteers as part of the BID’s contribution to Roots and Branches and absorb the cost as a donation, or (3) request the water utility change the named payee on some meters to another party (the city or Roots and Branches). Board discussion favored option 2 as a budgeting and optics compromise: designate two of the meters as part of the BID’s contribution to Roots and Branches and absorb the third meter associated with contractor watering as a BID expense.
Staff estimated each meter could cost roughly $250 per year in combined fixed charge and water use; an additional roughly $50 per meter is charged each spring to have an outside meter reinstalled (staff gave an annual operating approximation of about $300 per meter when accounting for usage and the spring reinstall fee). Board members noted those figures are preliminary, could be higher in a dry summer, and that the BID lacks a full year of usage data to be precise.
The board agreed to pay the meters for the current year and to include the meters and any proposed contribution to Roots and Branches in the August–September budget deliberations. Staff will track meter usage and line-item costs so the board can make a clearer budget decision later.
Roots and Branches representatives and board members discussed volunteer capacity and the original purpose of the spigots — to reduce volunteer watering burdens by providing nearby fill points for trucks and ATVs that water hanging baskets and planters.
Staff flagged that changing the named payee on meters is administratively possible through the water utility but may be politically sensitive between parties using the water.
