1. Shaun Hewitt CPA, CMA Director of Operations Support Region of Peel
9/12/2018
Billing for a Third Party The Mississauga Storm Water Charge Experience - Lessons Learned
Shaun Hewitt CPA, CMA
Director of Operations Support
Region of Peel

2. Objectives
Share experience between Mississauga and Region of Peel specifically lessons learned
Highlight the structure of the agreement
Provide opportunity for questions

3. Partnering Opportunity
9/12/2018
Partnering Opportunity
Region of Peel issues utility bills for entire Region (Regional system lake to tap to lake)
City of Mississauga decided to implement a Storm Water Charge
Council(s) wanted it collected on the Utility Bill

4. Structure of the Mississauga Charge
9/12/2018
Structure of the Mississauga Charge
Inventory of pavements and roofs taken
Each property rated with the number of Storm units (SFU’s)
Residential broken into 5 categories
Smallest (.5) Small (.7) Medium (1) Large (1.2) Largest (1.7)
Commercial/Industrial based on actual mapping
(1 billing unit per 2,874 sq ft)

5. Storm Water Rate Process
9/12/2018
Storm Water Rate Process
Rate is set by Mississauga with annual adjustment
Rate is converted into a daily rate for use by billing system
When a Meter is read, billing process starts and billing system applies the daily storm water rate against the property’s SFU times the number of days included in the reading cycle (typically 90)

6. 9/12/2018
Data Transfer
City provides SFU value by property through their separate data base
Daily upload and download
Exceptions identified and worked
Changes and modifications identified and back billed appropriately
Daily reconciliation to ensure data integrity
Complex to set up but once established easy to maintain
New (non water) customers updated through this process

7. Non payment - non water account
9/12/2018
Non payment - non water account
Provincial legislation allows unpaid utility bill to be placed on tax roll
No disconnection for unpaid storm water,
collection process then transfer to tax bill

8. Revenue Transfer Modelled after the property tax relationship
9/12/2018
Revenue Transfer
Modelled after the property tax relationship
Region bills based on records provided by City
Region remits all amounts billed (regardless of whether collected or not)
Region keeps all fees, late charges etc.

9. Benefits of Using Utility Bill
9/12/2018
Benefits of Using Utility Bill
Can leverage billing system
Utility Billing is different than tax billing
Ongoing and demand based variability
Storm Water methodology fits well with Utility Billing process
Cost to agency is minimal
Around 90 cents per bill
Customer sees only one bill

10. Billing System Structure
Storm Water Charge

11. Lessoned Learned Partnership Opportunity
Define the business rules and relationship rules upfront
Service Level Agreement is a must
Define partner’s system and business needs up front
Financial Management versus Data Management
Marginal cost model works well
Discourages scope creep
Stay in your swim lane
Billing agent not policy setter

12. Lessoned Learned Business Practices
9/12/2018
Lessoned Learned Business Practices
Where possible use the same business rules as utility billing
Bills Issued Daily (5,000 per day)
Residential is mainly quarterly
Commercial/Industrial is monthly for higher users
Bill is triggered by meter read and based on storm water daily rate
Where possible use the same address (service point) for billing storm water as water/wastewater
Bill to the address with the owner
Responsibility of property owner or condo board to collect fees

13. Lessoned Learned Business Practices
9/12/2018
Lessoned Learned Business Practices
Goal is to reduce to number of separate storm water bills issued
Types of properties that need their own bill
Vacant and un serviced land
Parking lots
Create a separate “service point” for addresses with no water service
Loaded before go live.

14. Lessoned Learned Implementation
9/12/2018
Lessoned Learned Implementation
Impact of Partnership
Accelerated project plan and need
Became the Pan Am games – cannot miss date
Created key driver for need
Helped with Council and Organizational Buy In
Increased visibility and complicated approvals

15. Lessoned Learned Cost Model
9/12/2018
Lessoned Learned Cost Model
Marginal cost model
City pays for the additional costs of adding the storm water charge on the bill
Recognizes that Region and City have common residents
Assumes we are billing anyway
Benefits are driven by base costs being absorbed by existing model
About 90 cents per bill

16. Lessoned Learned Reporting Requirements
More reports means More time and costs
Financial reports tend to be simple but long
Timing and impact on live data base versus recovery data base
Data reports tend to be more complex
Reconciliation

17. Lessoned Learned Communication
Communication during the process is essential
Held daily phone calls on testing issues to ensure issues addressed
Lead up to launch is stressful to all parties due to risk of public embarrassment

18. Lessoned Learned Overall
Partnerships are beneficial to resident and organization if cost savings and efficiencies outweigh loss of ability to customize business approach
Partners have similar interests but also differing priorities – need to respect this variable
From the public perspective there is only one tax/rate payer so demonstrating the desire for efficiencies increases “trust and confidence” from the public

19. Questions