To: Members of the Castle Rock Water Commission
From: Mark Marlowe, P.E., Director of Castle Rock Water
Anne Glassman, Business Solutions Manager
Title
Senior Discount Program Update
Body
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At the commission meeting on May 27, 2020, commission inquired about the senior discount program details and outreach. The purpose of the memo is to give commission an outline of the program, annual cost of the program and past as well as future outreach efforts on the program.
We currently offer a $3.00 credit per month which equates to an annual $36 credit on their water bill. Municipal Code 13.12.130 Senior Citizen Discount outlines the requirements to meet the criteria for the monthly credit. In summary here is the criteria:
1. Customer is over the age of 65 effective the date of usage of the service.
2. The senior citizen must own and reside within the premises being served, or reside within the premises being served with the condition that the water service charge be paid by the senior citizen as a tenant.
3. Where the senior citizen resides in a multifamily dwelling unit, there must be a separate metering of the senior citizen's premises in order to affect the discount.
4. Residential property owners who are leasing or renting to senior citizens must provide appropriate evidence to the Customer Billing Department of Castle Rock Water of such application.
We currently have 707 active customers receiving the senior discount out of 20,890 residential accounts. The population that is over 65 is approximately 12% in Douglas County so we could have as many as 2,500 active customers in this group. Currently, the senior discount equates to approximately $25k annual reduction of revenue for CR Water. If everyone participated, this number could be more like $90k. In the future, this population of seniors is expected to approach 19% in Douglas County. This would equate to revenue loss of $140k. As far as we can tell, the $3.00 senior discount has been in effect as far back as 1990. Staff called several local water providers that we benchmark against for the rates and fees study to see if they offer a senior discount of any type. We found that none of these water providers offered a senior discount or program similar to it.
As part of the annual Rates and Fees Study, staff updates the cost of service inputs for the special charges. For the 2020 study, staff will include a more in-depth look at the costs of the senior discount program as well as whether the $3 per month credit is still applicable and reasonable. With that staff will also put together a customer outreach plan to see if more outreach of the program is needed beyond the current senior discount application found on crgov.com.