2009-14ORDINANCE N0.2009-14
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 2005-13, 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 2005-13, 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
November 2009 billing month. The franchise fee is in lieu of all permit fees otherwise paid by
Minnegasco 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.
JMS-240028v4
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Subd. 4. Surcharge. 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 Payment. 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,
2011 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 28~' day of July, 2009.
Read and passed by the City Council of th
August, 2009.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Nancy Gibbs ity Clerk
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RC145-515
EXHIBIT A
CENTERPOINT GAS FRANCHISE
FEE SCHEDULE
Class Fee Per Meter
Residential $~Fr5_ 1.88
Comm-A $~FrS_ 1.88
Comm/Ind-B $~9 5.81
Comm/Ind-C $~~_ 12.92
SVDF-A $~1-3~_ 12.92
SVDF-B $~33_ 12.92
LUDF $~~ 12.92
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 Apri130.
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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JMS-240028v4
RC145-515
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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
Financial Officer of the newspaper(s) known
as
Richfield Sun-Current
and has full knowledge of the facts stated
below:
(A) The newspaper has complied with all of
the requirements constituting qualifica-
tion as a qualified newspaper as provid-
ed by Minn. Stat. §331A.02, §331A.07,
and other applicable laws as amended.
(B) The printed public notice that is attached
was published in said newspaper(s)
once each week, for one successive
week(s); it was first published on Thurs-
day, the 20 day of August
2009, and was thereafter printed and
published on every Thursday to and in-
cluding Thursday, the _____ day of
2009; and printed
below is a copy of the lower case alpha-
bet from A to Z, both inclusive, which is
hereby acknowledged as being the size
and kind of type used in the composition
and publication of the notice:
abcdefghijklmnopgrstuvwxyz
e
BY:
CFO
Subscribed and sworn to or affirmed
before me on this 20 day of
August , 2009.
Notary Public
MARY ANN CARLSON
NOTARY PUBLIC -MINNESOTA
MY COMMISSION EXPIRES 1~1-14
City of Richfield
(Official Publication)
SUMMARY PUBLICATION
BILL NO. 2009-14
AN ORDINANCE MODIFYING THE GAS FRANCHISE
FEE ON CENTERPOINT ENERGY FOR PROVIDING
GAS SERVICE WITHIN THE CITY OF RICHFIELD
The purpose of this ordinance amendment is to modify the
franchise fee on CenterPoint Energy under its Gas Fran-
chise Agreement commencing with the CenterPoint Ener-
gy's November 2009 billing month. The franchise fee is in
lieu of all permit fees otherwise paid by CenterPoint En-
ergy for its use of Public Ways and Public Grounds in the
City.
Fee Schedule
Class Fee Per Meter
Residential $1.88
Comm-A $1.88
Comm/Ind-B $5.81
Comm/Ind-C $12.92
SVDF-A $12.92
SVDF-B $12.92
LVDF $12.92
Franchise fees are to be collected by the utility and sub-
mitted to the City on a quarterly basis. The utility may sur-
charge the fees to its customers as permitted by law. The
City will review the ordinance by June 30, 2011 to deter-
mine whether to continue, terminate or modify the fee.
Copies of the ordinance are available for public inspection
in the Administrative Services Department during normal
business hours or upon request by calling Chris Regis, Fi-
nance Manager at 612-861-9723.
Adopted by the City Council of the City of Richfield, Min-
nesota this 11th day of August 2009.
/s/ Nancy Gibbs. City Clerk
20, 2009) d2-bill 2009-14