Sedona council approves 3% bill credit after Arizona Corporation Commission assigns $6M tank cost to local customers

The City of Sedona on Thursday approved an amendment to its franchise agreement with Arizona Water Company that will give a 3% monthly credit on water statements to Sedona-system customers instead of the city collecting a 3% franchise fee.

Council said the move is intended to blunt the immediate financial impact on residents after the Arizona Corporation Commission, in a recent rate decision, assigned about $6 million of the construction cost for an east Sedona storage tank to customers in the Sedona system rather than spreading that portion across the larger regional customer base.

The credit will appear on customer bills as a “City of Sedona franchise fee credit.” City staff told council the change is a temporary suspension of collections; the franchise agreement itself remains in force. The city will stop receiving the 3% revenue while the credit is on customers’ bills. Council members said they favored the change because they saw the ACC action as a punitive allocation…