Committee supports staff recommendation for percent-based water-leak credit with high-dollar cap and reporting

The finance committee reviewed city policy for water-leak credits, which staff said was last updated in 1996 and currently allows a maximum $100 adjustment. Noah Crocker explained that modern radio meters and continuous-flow monitoring reduce detection times but that some customers still face large bills from undetected leaks.

Staff recommended moving to a percent-based credit—specifically, a 75% credit applied to the portion of the bill attributable to the leak—citing examples that showed a substantial reduction in customer liability versus the $100 cap. For a hypothetical account with a normal three-year average bill of about $143 and a leak-driven bill of $770, a $100 cap would leave the customer responsible for $670; a 75% credit would reduce the customer’s share to about $300.

Committee members expressed concern about very large commercial or irrigation-related breaks that could produce multi-thousand-dollar bills. Members proposed adding a high-dollar cap and a review path for extraordinary cases; the group ultimately supported a 75% leak-credit policy with a $5,000 maximum credit and asked staff to provide quarterly reporting on program usage and fiscal impact. Members discussed referral or adjudication for account balances far above a customer’s normal bill but emphasized keeping the primary rule formulaic to avoid subjective casework whenever possible.

Staff will draft ordinance or code changes and include the 75%/up-to-$5,000 framework and return to the committee with recommended language and an implementation timeline.