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Cave Creek committee debates new water‑rate tiers and data needed to model impacts
Summary
Committee members argued over how to structure usage tiers to drive conservation — one member favors multiple smaller tiers starting at 10,000 gallons, another proposed a single large penalty tier — and staff said better customer usage data and consultant modeling are needed before final changes.
Nancy (committee member) backed a multi‑tier approach, saying it “gives the user a reason to conserve” and suggested a 10,000‑gallon baseline with incremental increases to motivate reduced usage. Bill and another member proposed concentrating higher prices at a single large tier (e.g., applying steep penalties after a 30,000‑gallon threshold) to simplify the design.
Staff (Sean) told the committee they lack the customer‑usage‑block data necessary to run firm models and agreed to provide demographic and usage‑block breakdowns to the committee. Robert noted an existing Excel model and said staff (Ryan) also has modeling results to share once inputs are finalized.
Why it matters: Rate structure changes affect household bills, conservation behavior and revenues available to pay for water resources. The committee emphasized different treatment for residential and commercial customers and debated whether businesses should be a separate class because of distinct consumption and economic benefits.
No vote: The committee did not adopt a rate change; members asked staff to supply the requested data and tentatively scheduled follow‑up discussion in a July or August meeting ahead of a fuller Q4 proposal.
Representative quote: “I like the multiple tiers… that gives the user a reason to conserve,” Nancy said, advocating incremental pricing.
