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Council debates tighter backflow inspection rules, compliance fees to raise enforcement funding
Summary
Public Works proposed stricter backflow inspection enforcement to raise compliance from ~64% to 90–100%, recommending triage: standard residential testing every three years, annual testing where health hazards exist, annual commercial testing and a $3.50 administrative component to the third-party upload fee to fund enforcement. Council asked for clearer phased options and more data before deciding on fees or mandatory reconnection policies.
Cibolo public-works staff presented options Monday to strengthen backflow-prevention compliance after an internal review showed the city's overall compliance at about 64% (residential ~66%, commercial ~49.6%). The staff recommendations aimed to prioritize public-health risks: require residential backflow testing every three years unless the premise is in a regulatory floodplain or has chemical feeds or pumps, in which case testing would be annual; require annual testing for commercial devices.
Staff proposed multilayered enforcement: multiple mailed notices, door hangers and, for commercial noncompliance, potential disconnection of service after repeated notifications; reconnection would require a passing test and an administrative reconnection fee (currently $25). To fund outreach and enforcement, staff proposed increasing the fee that third-party testers pay to upload results into the statewide database (Veebo) from $11.50 to $15.00, which would return $3.50 per upload to the city's utility fund. Presenters said Veebo is an established statewide platform and that the upload fee is commonly used by other cities to underwrite program costs.
Council members sought simpler, phased choices and asked staff to present discrete options (e.g., a commercial-first enforcement phase) with expected compliance gains and estimated staffing/cost impacts. Several councillors urged targeting high-risk properties first (commercial, floodplain, irrigation systems with chemical feeds), rather than a blanket approach. No new ordinance or fee was adopted at the meeting; staff will return with a tighter, options-based proposal and clearer data on how many properties respond to each notification stage.
