2003-24
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BILL NO. 2003-24
CITY OF RICHFIELD
COUNTY OF HENNEPIN
STATE OF MINNESOTA
AN ORDINANCE IMPLEMENTING A GAS FRANCHISE FEE ON
CENTERPOINT ENERGY MINNEGASCO FOR PROVIDING GAS SERVICE
WITHIN THE CITY OF RICHFIELD
THE CITY OF RICHFIELD ORDAINS:
SECTION 1. The City of Richfield Municipal Code Appendix E is hereby amended to include
reference to the following Special Ordinance.
Subdivision 1. Purpose. The Richfield City Council has determined that it is in the
best interest of the City to impose a franchise fee on those public utility companies that provide
natural gas and electric services within the City of Richfield.
(a) Pursuant to City Ordinance No. 2003-10, a Franchise Agreement between the
City and CenterPoint Energy Minnegasco ("Minnegasco"), the City has the right to
impose a franchise fee on Minnegasco in an agreed upon amount and fee design, as
set forth in Section 6.1 of the Minnegasco Franchise.
Subd. 2. Franchise Fee Statement. A franchise fee is hereby imposed on
Minnegasco under its Gas Franchise in accordance with the schedule attached hereto as
Exhibit A and made a part of this ordinance, commencing with the Minnegasco's February,
2004 billing month. The franchise fee is in lieu of all permit fees otherwise paid by Minnegasco
for its use of Public Ways and Public Grounds in the City.
Subd. 3. Payment. The said franchise fee shall be payable to the City in accordance
with the terms set forth as follows. The franchise fee shall be payable quarterly and shall be
based on the complete billing months during the period for which payment is to be made. The
payment shall be due the last business day of the month following the period for which the
payment is made. The fee may be changed by ordinance from time to time, however each
change shall meet the same notice requirements and may not occur more often than annually.
Such fee shall not exceed any amount, which the Company may legally charge to its customers
prior to payment to the City by imposing a surcharge equivalent to such fee in its rates for Gas
service. The Company may pay the City the fee based upon the surcharge billed subject to
subsequent reductions to account for uncollectibles or customer refunds. The time and manner
of collecting the franchise fee is subject to approval of the Public Utilities Commission, which the
Company agrees to use best efforts to obtain. The Company agrees to make its records
available for inspection by the City at reasonable times, provided that the City and its designated
representative agree in writing not to disclose any information that is not public data which would
indicate the amount paid by any identifiable customer or any other information regarding specific
customers.
Subd. 4. Surchar~e. The City recognizes that the Minnesota Public Utilities
Commission allows the utility company to add a surcharge to customer rates to reimburse such
utility company for the cost of the fee and that Minnegasco will surcharge its customers in the
City the amount of the fee.
Subd. 5. Record Support for Payment. Minnegasco shall make each payment when
due and, if requested by the City, shall provide at the time of each payment a statement I
summarizing how the franchise fee payment was determined, including information showing
any adjustments to the total surcharge billed in the period for which the payment is being made
to account for any uncollectibles, refunds or error corrections.
Subd. 6. Enforcement. Any dispute, including enforcement of a default regarding this
ordinance will be resolved in accordance with Section 2.5 the Franchise Agreement.
Subd. 7. Effective Date of Franchise Fee. Notwithstanding the effective date of this
ordinance and notwithstanding any contrary provisions in the Franchise, the effective date of
the fee collected under Subdivision 2 of this ordinance is the later of ten (10) days after the
publication or after the sending of written notice enclosing a copy of this adopted ordinance
upon Minnegasco by certified mail. It has been agreed to in advance by Minnegasco's
representatives that Minnegasco will abide by the provisions of this Subdivision 7, provided fee
collection will not commence before the later of the Company billing month set forth in
subdivision 2 or the first billing month commencing 20 days after the foregoing effective date of
the franchise fee.
Subd. 8. Fee Review. The City Council shall begin a review of this Ordinance by June
30, 2008 to determine whether to continue, terminate or modify the fee. If the Council deems it
to be in the City's best interest to continue the fee in its current form, no Council action is
necessary. If the Council deems it to be in the City's best interest to terminate or modify the I
fee, the Council shall give Minnegasco at least sixty (60) days written notice prior to the
proposed change. Subject to the City's rights under Minnesota law, the City shall obtain the
consent of Minnegasco to any proposed increase in the fee but may unilaterally decrease or
terminate the fee.
SECTION 2. This ordinance takes effect as provided herein.
Read by the City Council of the City of Richfield this 12th day of November, 2003.
Passed
2003.
16th day of December,
ATTEST:
~~ J;1j,(p
Nancy GibbX;City Clerk
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EXHIBIT A
MINNEGASCO GAS FRANCHISE
FEE SCHEDULE
Class
Fee Per Meter
Residential
Comm-A
Comm/lnd-B
Commllnd-C
SVDF-A
SVDF-B
LVDF
$1.45
$1.45
$4.50
$10.00
$1 0.00
$10.00
$10.00
Franchise fees are to be collected by the utility in the amounts set forth in the above schedule,
and submitted to the City on a quarterly basis as follows:
January - March collections due by April 30.
April- June collections due by July 31.
July - September collections due by October 31.
October - December collections due by January 31.
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newspapers
AFFIDAVIT OF PUBLICATION
STATE OF MINNESOTA)
ss.
COUNTY OF HENNEPIN)
Richard Hendrickson, being duly sworn on an oath states or aHirms, that he is the Chief
Sun-Current
and has full
Financial Officer of the newspaper known as
knowledge of the facts stated below:
(A) The newspaper has complied with all of the requirements constituting qualification as a
qualified newspaper, as provided by Minn. Stat. S331 A.02, S331 A.O?, and other applicable
laws, as amended.
(8) The printed public notice that is attached was published in the newspaper once each week,
for ~ successive week(s); it was first published on Thursday, the ~ day of
December ,2003, and was thereafter printed and published on every Thursday to and
including Thursday, the _ day of
, 2004; and printed below is a copy of the
I
lower case alphabet from A to Z, both inclusive, which is hereby acknowledged as being the
size and kind of type used in the composition and publicallon 0
abCdefghijklmnOpq~z
I
Subscribed and sworn to or,affirm~d before me
on this c2G day Of/~D i? j ,2003.
'~ n ~I C.
~ II. o. It. ; (L-~ ~ II", YJ.Q (LA tt, r, J
Notacy Public \. \
-,. i'-""":', MERIDEL M. HEDBLOM III
NOTARY PUBLlC.MINNESOTA
MY COMMISSION EXPIRES 1.31.2005
B .
RATE INFORMATION
(1) Lowest classified rate paid by commercial users
for comparable space
$
2.85 per line
(2) Maximum rate allowed by law
$
6.20 per line
(3) Rate actually charged
$
1.40 per line
J
ritY of RiCh~~~ci~1 Publication)
SUMMARY PUBLICATION
BILL NO. 2003-24
r AN ORDINANCE IMPLEMENTING A GAS
I FRANCmSE FEE ON CENTERPOINT ENERGY
I MINNEGASCO FOR PROVIDING GAS SERVICE
WITffiN TIlE CITY OF RICHFIELD
r The purpose of this ordinance amendment is to impose a
franchise fee on Minnesgasco under its Gas Franchise I
Agreement commencing with the Minnegasco's February,
'1' 2004 billing month. The franchise fee is in lieu of all permit
fees othenvise paid by Minnegasco for its use of Public
Ways and Public Grounds in the City.
FEE SCHEDULE
Class Fee Per Meter
Residential $1.45
Comm-A $1.45
Comm/Ind-B $4.50
I Comm/Ind-C $10.00
SVDF-A $10.00 .
I SVDF-B $10.00
LVDF $10.00
I Franchise fees are to be collected by the utilIty and
I submitted to the City on a quarterly basis. The utility may
surcharge the fees to its customers as permitted by law. _
The City will review the ordinance by June 20, 2008 I
I to determine whether to continue, terminate or modify
I the fee.
I Copies of the ordinance are available for public inspection
in the Public Works Department" during normal business
I hours or upon request by calling Mike Eastling, Director of
Public Works at 612-861-9792. .
Adopted by the City Council of the City of Richfield,
I Minnesota this 16th day of December, 2003.
r Martin .1. Kirsch
I Mayor
i' ATTEST: Nancy Gibbs
I City Clerk"
,. . (December 25, 2003) D-2 2003-24