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MEMORANDUM <br />DATE: July 9, 2008 <br />TO: Jon Ruiz, City Manager <br />City of Eugene <br />FROM: Becky Carlson, Acting Public Works Director <br />City of Eugene <br />RE: Extension of EWEB Billing and Collection Contract <br />Public Works <br />Administration <br />City of Eugene <br />858 Pearl Street <br />Eugene, Oregon 97401 <br />(541) 682-5241 <br />(541) 682-6826 FAX <br />www.eugene-or.gov <br />The purpose of this memo is to provide background and recommend approval for a contract renewal with <br />Eugene Water & Electric Board for city utility billing and collection services. Our current contract <br />expired June 30, 2008. Attached is the MOU, along with an amendment which requires your signature. <br />Besides housekeeping changes, the amendment extends the contract for a five-year period and increases <br />the city's monthly per bill rate from $1.12 to $1.17 (a 4.5% increase) for FY09. <br />Backpyound <br />The City Charter provides that, "The council may require the board to bill and collect the city service <br />charges for collecting and disposing of liquid and solid wastes." City Code provides that the board may <br />charge a "reasonable fee for its actual costs of billing, collecting and remitting sewer service revenue. <br />The fee shall be based on actual costs and established annually by agreement between the city manager <br />and water utility". <br />Since 1998, the contract fee has been based on a three-year average of EWEB's actual costs in sixteen <br />cost categories. Each of the three city utilities (stormwater, local wastewater and regional wastewater), <br />along with the E WEB business units, shares costs based on objective allocation factors. Eugene's total <br />cost for the contract in FY08 was roughly $800,000. This new contract rate represents an estimated <br />additional $36,000 in annual billing costs for FY09 and beyond. Almost half the cost is the city's share of <br />EWEB computer services and maintenance related to billing hardware and software. The remaining <br />billing services include printing, mailing, some customer service, payment processing, and collections. <br />The City of Springfield has a similar agreement with Springfield Utility Board, which currently charges <br />$1.11 per bill to that city. <br />The MOU allows either party to request a review of terms and conditions, with 30 days' notice. In <br />addition, the MOU allows the City to withdraw from the MOU with six months' notice. <br />If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. <br />