Mt. View Sanitary District is committed to protecting the public health and environment, in a safe and reliable manner, at a reasonable cost. The District is required to routinely analyze Sewer Service Charges (SSCs), which are intended to collect sufficient revenues to adequately fund sewer utility operations, maintenance, and capital replacement expenditures, meet debt service obligations, keep rates as competitive as possible, and maintain a prudent level of reserves. This analysis is conducted through rate and affordability studies whose findings help guide the decisions of the District’s Board of Directors and fulfill the requirements found in the Revenue Program Guidelines published by the California Environmental Protection Agency’s State Water Resource Control Board from its Policy for Implementing the State Revolving Fund for Construction of Wastewater Treatment Facilities.

Sewer rate studies classically have three categories of technical analysis – the development of revenue required from rates, the allocation of costs among functional cost categories (cost-of-service analysis) and the design of a rate structure. The District conducted sewer rate studies in 2017 and 2020 and is currently conducting a rate study to establish rates for fiscal years 2026-2027 through 2031-2032. These studies evaluated customer wastewater characteristics and requirements along with District operations and anticipated capital projects to formulate the rate structure.

 Affordability is measured by the percentage of median household income (MHI) spent annually on utility (wastewater) services. The affordability study completed in 2020 in the MVSD service area concluded that the monthly wastewater utility bills are less than the affordability threshold, making the MVSD rates affordable.

The Rate Study in progress now will recommend rates to be considered by the District’s Board of Directors in early 2026 to establish rates through fiscal year 2032.