2005-13
ORDINANCE NO. 2005-13
CITY OF RICHFIELD
COUNTY OF HENNEPIN
STATE OF MINNESOTA
AN ORDINANCE MODIFYING THE GAS FRANCHISE FEE ON
CENTERPOINT ENERGY 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 as follows:
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 ("CenterPoint"), the City has the right to impose a franchise
fee on CenterPoint in an agreed upon amount and fee design, as set forth in Section
6.1 of the CenterPoint Franchise.
(b) Pursuant to City Ordinance 2003-24, the City exercised its right to impose a franchise
fee on CenterPoint. This includes the right to modify the fee amount with the consent
of CenterPoint as to amount and notice period, to which CenterPoint has consented.
Subd. 2. Franchise Fee Statement. Pursuant to Ordinance 2003-24, the franchise fee
imposed on CenterPoint under its Gas Franchise is hereby amended. The amended fee schedule
is attached hereto as Exhibit A and made a part of this ordinance, commencing with the
CenterPoint's January ~ 2006 billing month. The franchise fee is in lieu of all permit fees
otherwise paid by CenterPoint for its use of Public Ways and Public Ground 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. Surchare: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 CenterPoint will surcharge its customers in the
City the amount of the fee.
Subd. 5. Record Support for Pavment. CenterPoint shall make each payment when
due and, if requested by the City, shall provide at the time of each payment a statement
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
CenterPoint by certified mail. It has been agreed to in advance by CenterPoint's representatives
that CenterPoint 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 fee,
the Council shall give CenterPoint 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
CenterPoint 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 27th day of September, 2005.
Read and passed by the City Council of the City of Richfie~~~~~ da .
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
"--fw /VIM ~
Nancy Gibbs, ~y Clerk
EXHIBIT A
CENTERPOINT GAS FRANCHISE
FEE SCHEDULE
Class
Residential
Comm-A
Comm/Ind-B
Comm/Ind-C
SVDF-A
SVDF-B
LVDF
Fee Per Meter
$ +.-6Q
$ +.-6Q
$ +.-%
$-t-hOO
$-t-hOO
$-t-hOO
$-t-hOO
1.65
1.65
5.10
11.33
11.33
11.33
11.33
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.
CI
---
newspapers
AFFIDAVIT OF PUBLICATION
STATE OF MINNESOTA)
ss.
COUNTY OF HENNEPIN)
Richard Hendrickson, being duly sworn on an oath states or affirms, that he is the Chief Fi-
nancial Officer of the newspaper known as Sun-Current
and has full 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. 9331A.02, 9331A.07, and other applic-
able 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 -L day
of November ,2005, and was thereafter printed and published on every Thursday
to and including Thursday, the _ day of
, 2005; and printed below is
a copy of the lower case alphabet from A to Z, both inclusive, which is hereby acknowl-
edged as being the size and kind of type used in the composition and publication of the
notice:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
BY'~(
Subscribed and sworn to or affirmed before me
on this -L day of November, 2005.
f~~~~
Notary Pu Iic
e
MARY ANN CARLSON
NOTARY PUBlIC - MINNESOTA
MY COMMISSION EXPIRES 1-3Hl9
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
$
1.30 per line
2005
L E'GALNOT ICE S
City of Richfield
(Official PublicatiOn)
SUIII1MARY PUBLICATION
. BILL NO. 2005-13" ,-
. .... - '--, :..'."--"
'AN ORDINANCE MODIFYING THE GAS F~ANCHISE
FEE ON CENTERPOINT ENERGY FOR PROVIDING
GAS SERVICEWlTtllNTHE CITYOF RICHFIELD
The purpose cif tl1isordinariceamendment is to mOditYthe ~.
. franchise feeonCenterPoint Energy.. under its.Gas Fran-
chise Agreil"rnentcori)mencing wjththeCel).terPoinf Ener-
gy's January 2006 billing month: The franchise fee is in
lieu alall pemiit fees otherwise paid by CenlerPoir1!.En- ,
ergy for its use of Public Ways ~nd Public Grounds in the
City. '
Fee ~<ibedllJ~
: .... +:j::I;S~ F~pe~ M~t~r
Residen\i~1 $:1.65
Cornm~A .' '."> $1.,65
Comm!'nd-~. ........ ..~__$5,1-e-.-~-::;:
'___~.~~~:r:~n-~~~;:----'-:.~ ~~. -~.~~t~"_..-..,
SVDF~B;' . - .$1.1.33
l.VQF . $11.33
,--.,'-.-, -.
'Francl1isefEies. ~retobe' G.9I1e!fted ~ythe lIti~i!y.. and sub:.
rnitJe~tcith~qityOn aquat~e.rIY-I:>l\sls, Th.e?~I~ty ~~r~h~. '
*~...~~s ~/:tFa.'~Jl.!J>&l""'pjlJJ.!ljll~". .."1,---, . "~,'
CitywiUrel!ll!W the ordinance bY- June 20,2008 to deter- '
mine wllether to cQlltinue. terminate or mOdify the fee.
'..:..........._..... ..'. .,_"....._ ,---'... .. c
Copies oftll!Jordinance are available for public inspection
. in,tlle Admini$fratiile Services Department during normal'
business. hours Qr upon request by calling Chris Regis. Fi-
na[\ce Manager at 612,861-9723.
Isl
Nancy. Gibbs, City Clerk
'(Nov. 3, 2005)d2/2005-13