1.	A connection fee for commercial facilities will be triggered whenever there is an increase in the size of the facility.
	Background: The wastewater discharge from any given facility or parcel will fluctuate from day to day and year to year. Some of these fluctuations may cause a discharger to slightly exceed his or her discharge entitlement for short periods of time. It would not be practical or reasonable to attempt to assess a connection fee for every one of these fluctuations.
	The discharge entitlement for a commercial parcel is based on the size of the facilities located on the parcel using standard average loadings corresponding to the type of facilities. The discharge from that same commercial parcel may, due to fluctuations and operational differences, actually exceed these average loadings and, hence, the discharge entitlement. However, no connection fee is triggered because the commercial parcel is assumed, for billing purposes, to be discharging at the average levels. This implicitly accounts for any minor fluctuations in the flow attributable to a parcel.Thus, to provide a further allowance for changes up to 25% in the size of the facilities was deemed inappropriate for commercial parcels and will no longer be allowed. Parcels with water consumption significantly lower than the average loadings can still apply for a reduced charge based on their water consumption.
2.	A connection fee will be triggered for parcels previously on septic tank that are connecting to the sewerage system for the first time.
	Background: Prior to Proposition 13 (pre-1978), a property tax was levied on all parcels within a Sanitation District whether or not they were connected to the sewerage system. Hence, parcels that utilized a septic system were charged for a service that they were not utilizing. Thus, it seemed appropriate to provide those parcels with a credit equal to the charges previously paid when they elected to connect to the sewerage system.
	However, Proposition 13 eliminated the ability of individual agencies to levy property taxes and the Sanitation Districts implemented a service charge program whereby only those parcels actually connected to the sewerage system are charged for sewer service. Thus, it was deemed inappropriate to continue to allow connection fee credits to parcels utilizing septic systems since no such parcel has been charged after 1978.
3.	A capacity rental charge will be levied on parcels that are outside the Sanitation Districts’ boundaries but receive sewerage service from the Sanitation Districts.
	Background: In order to properly receive sewerage service from the Sanitation Districts, a parcel outside of the Districts’ boundaries must first annex to the Districts and then pay appropriate connection fees. On occasion, a parcel outside the Districts’ boundaries will connect to the sewerage system without annexing or paying connection fees. The owners of such parcels are receiving a benefit not available to other property owners and, in fact, are being subsidized by all of the property owners within the Districts.
	To make the owners of such parcels equal to all of the other property owners, a capacity rental charge shall be levied on any parcel outside of the Districts’ boundaries that is receiving sewerage service and is not provided service under the terms of a wastewater disposal contract. For parcels connected prior to July 1, 2007, the annual capacity rental charge will be equal to 1/40 of the connection fee that would otherwise be due. For parcels connecting after July 1, 2007, the annual capacity rental charge will be equal to 1/5 of the connection fee that would otherwise be due. The capacity rental charge shall continue to be levied and added to the service charge annually until such time as the property owner elects to annex to the Districts and pay the full connection fee.
4.	The charge reduction program based on low water use has been expanded for shopping centers and regional malls to allow a possible reduction to a rate equivalent to that of stores.
	Background: The annual service charge for a commercial discharger is based on the type and size of the facilities located on the parcel using standard average loading factors. Dischargers with significantly lower water usage than the assumed flow loading for their type of use can apply for a rate reduction of up to 60%.
	Even with a 60% reduction, the resulting flow loading for a shopping center or regional mall is still higher than the flow loading for an equivalent sized store. Thus, the possible reduction for shopping centers and regional malls was expanded to 80% to accommodate shopping centers and regional malls that consist entirely of stores.
5.	Service charge adjustments for multi-tenant shopping centers and regional malls will only be made prospectively on the basis of reduced water usage.
	Background: Shopping centers and regional malls typically have multiple types of uses ranging from stores to restaurants to laundromats, resulting in widely varying flows. For shopping centers and regional malls that consist mostly of low-volume discharges, a reduced charge program was implemented based on low water consumption. However, with a maximum reduction of 60%, the flow loading for a shopping center qualifying for the maximum reduction would still be higher than an equivalent sized store. To equitably charge shopping centers consisting of all stores, dischargers were allowed to submit certified tenant lists at the end of each fiscal year and receive a retroactive refund based on their actual usage.
	To eliminate the need for tenant lists and to ensure that dischargers are charged appropriately at the beginning of the fiscal year (as opposed to making corrections at the end of the year), shopping centers and regional malls with low volume dischargers must submit water usage information prior to the start of the fiscal year to receive a possible reduction in charges, which has been expanded to 80%.