Evergreen Fee Public Comment from Fred ZavodnyApril 20, 2022
To: Kalispell City Manager Doug Russell, Mayor Mark Johnson, and City Council Members
This is a response to City Clerk Aimee Brunckhorst's letter dated April 6, 2022 concerning the
public hearing to amend certain parts of the City's regulations to reflect the additional monthly fee
of $3.00 to be charged to City residents that receive their water from the Evergreen Water and
Sewer District (District). The water meter readings of these City residents are necessary for the City
to determine the monthly sewer treatment charges. I always believed the District deserved
compensation for the verifiable time and materials required to provide the City with the customer
usage information.
The District collects the water usage data (meter reading) monthly for their billing purposes. A
separate reading is not required specifically for the City resident's water billing purposes. The usage
data that was collected is then uploaded into the Districts billing system. When they do this they are
able to send the City the upload reads by email in an excel format. The City then inputs this
information into the billing system to determine the sewer treatment charges. Not all that much to it.
There are 867 City residents that are on Evergreen Water that the $3.00 monthly fee impacts.
Following are the calculations illustrating the monetary impacts on these 867 City residents.
867 City Residents x $3.00 per month = $2601 per month.
$2601 per month x 12 months = $31, 212 per year.
Assuming the District employees pay rate at $20.00 per hour this represents 1560 hours a year to
input the usage data and send the City the monthly upload reads by email in an excel format. This is
way beyond the bounds of possibility.
When the City Council reviews the annual budget requests from the City departments, the request
must include justification and supportive information in order to be considered for approval. It is the
responsibility of the City Manager, the Mayor, and the City Council to protect City residents from
being subjected to unacceptable and unjustifiable expenditures. The same level of scrutiny must be
applied to the Districts unacceptable and unjustifiable fees.
On behalf of the 867 City residents impacted by this, I am requesting the City Council to obtain a
verifiable accounting of the time and materials upon which the District determined the $3.00
monthly fee.
Do not update the City Regulations until such time as the City Council is satisfied that the final fee
that will be assessed by the District to the 867 City residents is fair and represents the verifiable
costs by the District to provide the service.
Respectfully submitted,
Fred Zavodny
46 E. Nicklaus Avenue
Kalispell, MT 59901