Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Water Conservation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Farmers Branch to pilot $50 irrigation checkup rebates with $10,000 council funding
Summary
City staff presented the irrigation checkup pilot on Feb. 14: $10,000 was approved by City Council to fund up to 200 $50 rebates for licensed irrigator audits, processed first-come, first-served and paid as a water-bill credit.
City staff described a council-funded irrigation-checkup pilot program at the Sustainability Committee meeting on Feb. 14, 2024.
Alex, a city sustainability staff member, said City Council approved funding for a pilot program with a $10,000 budget. The pilot would offer a $50 rebate per qualifying irrigation checkup, which—at that rebate level—would cover up to 200 audits in a fiscal year if demand reaches that level.
Applications will be accepted via paper forms or an online fillable form; staff said they will provide Spanish-language materials. Applicants will be processed in the order received and staff will notify applicants if the program exhausts funding in the fiscal year. The pilot is structured as first-come, first-served; staff said they will develop a contingency for any backlog or carryover if demand exceeds funds.
Eligibility requires that the checkup be performed by a licensed irrigator; applicants must submit the irrigator’s name, company and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) license number, the completed audit form and an invoice or receipt showing the service. Staff said the approved rebate will be applied as a credit on the customer’s water bill.
The proposed program document says the rebate may be claimed every five years per property; staff noted some peer cities allow more frequent audits but said the committee can discuss the period and rebate level. The city expects participating irrigators to estimate weekly gallons saved on the audit form; staff said the city can evaluate program effectiveness through audits, sampling water bills for a subset of participants or other methods and will revisit the pilot design if the audits show low uptake or little water saving.
Committee members asked whether the $50 rebate would be sufficient relative to market audit costs; staff said typical audit fees they contacted were about $120–$150 and that $50 was chosen to allow more participants within the available budget. Staff said they hope to begin promotion in March and that inspections performed up to 120 days before the program launch could qualify for the rebate (per the proposal’s 120-day window).
