Effective January 1, 2010, the City of La Crosse will no longer be paying the Water Utility charge for public fire protection (PFP) service. In the past, the City has paid this charge and, in turn, recovered its payment through property taxes. As such, the La Crosse Water Utility has requested Public Service Commission authorization to collect the PFP charges from each customer or benefitting person, as part of the water utility bill, based on the Equivalent Meter Method, in accordance with Wis. Stat. Sec. 196.03(3)(b), which reads as follows:
196.03(3)(b). Unless the governing body of a city, village or town adopts a resolution providing that the city, village or town will pay the retail charges of the production, storage, transmission, sale and delivery or furnishing of water for public fire protection purposes that are not included in general service charges:
- A public utility shall include the charges in the water utility bill of each customer of the public utility in the city, village or town.
- A municipal utility may, in addition to including the charges in water utility bills under subd.1., bill the charges to any person who meets all of the following conditions:
- The person is not a customer of the municipal utility.
- The person owns land that is located in the city, village or town and in an area which the municipal utility has an obligation to provide water for public fire protection.
This change in billing for PFP will allow for collection of PFP charges from property owners who are not subject to property taxes. La Crosse does not intend to charge non-general service customers as defined in subd. 2. above.
Proposed Charges
The proposed quarterly Public Fire Protection (PFP) charges are as follows:
| Meter Size |
Charge |
|
Size |
Charge |
| 5/8-inch |
$7.95 |
|
3-inch |
$120.00 |
| 3/4-inch |
$7.95 |
|
4-inch |
$201.00 |
| 1-inch |
$19.95 |
|
6-inch |
$399.00 |
| 1 1/4-inch |
$29.55 |
|
8-inch |
$636.00 |
| 1 1/2-inch |
$39.75 |
|
10-inch |
$954.00 |
| 2-inch |
$63.00 |
|
12-inch |
$1,272.00 |
The following is a projected quarterly billing comparison:
| Customer Type |
Meter Size |
Volume (CCF) |
Without PFP Charge |
With PFP Charge |
Percent Increase |
| Small Residential |
5/8 |
6 |
$21.00 |
$28.95 |
37.9% |
| Average Residential |
5/8 |
18 |
$30.00 |
$37.95 |
26.5% |
| Large Residential |
5/8 |
30 |
$39.00 |
$46.95 |
20.4% |
| Commercial |
1 |
50 |
$64.50 |
$84.45 |
30.9% |
| Commercial |
2 |
200 |
$205.50 |
$268.50 |
30.7% |
| Public Authority |
4 |
500 |
$484.50 |
$685.50 |
41.50% |
| Industrial |
6 |
1000 |
$886.50 |
$1285.50 |
45.0% |
Note: These projected quarterly bills do NOT include sewer charges.
Concerns
Anyone wishing to petition the Commission regarding this matter should file, in writing, within 20 days of this notice at the following address:
Public Service Commission of Wisconsin
Attention: Vishwa Kashyap
P.O. Box 7854
Madison, WI 53707-7854
Questions?
If you have any questions concerning the decision to direct-charge PFP, please contact the La Crosse Water Utility at 608-789-7536.
Download
Download a copy of this notice.