San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC)

San Francisco, CA

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) established its first parcel-based charge when it began charging all customers in the city for the stormwater runoff that their parcels contribute to its combined sewer and stormwater system. After assigning the Assessor’s Office parcel data to all existing wastewater accounts, approximately 12,000 parcels were still unmetered due to a lack in usable billing information, resulting in lost revenue. SRT took on the challenge of investigating ownership and parcel use to determine whether the stormwater runoff charge should be billed to the legal owner or some other entity such as a homeowners’ association, government agency, or associated account. SRT’s analysis leveraged publicly available datasets and GIS assets with mapping strategies. Through extensive analysis we determined the underlying causes for parcels remaining unmetered. This analysis combined with data aggregation determined which parcels could be billed immediately and what data was required to bill the remaining parcels. We equipped SFPUC staff to define current and future policy requirements through a collaborative, iterative process throughout the research period. We led tailored training sessions for multiple stakeholders that outlined the investigation, verification, and documentation processes and made specific recommendations to ensure consistency and reliability. The analytic program we developed empowers the SFPUC team to perform internal tracking and analysis to resolve parcels as soon as data becomes available.

SRT’s powerful combination of technical skills and facilitation services enabled SFPUC to address a detailed and granular research, tracking, and programming challenge. We created consensus among diverse interests and set up internal leadership teams to navigate change with sturdy, resilient tools for analysis, implementation, and organization across functions.