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Number of Average Revenue Year Consumers per Customer 1949 ....... ....... .................... ...............___________ ___ . ..____ 7,834 25.50 1950 ...........- 1 ...... .......................................................................... 8,331 26.60 1951 .................................................................................................. 9,101 / 28.50 1952 ................................................................................................. 9,765 > / / 33.00 1953 .................................................................................................. 11,632 \ / ' 35.30 The Montgomery report proposes increasing water charges a flat 134%. The typical bill will be $6.25 per month, or $75 per year. In view of the average annual revenue per customer reported by Montgomery of $80 in San Diego, $78 in San Francisco and $78 in Beverly Hills, a $75 rate for a desert area does not appear unreasonable. It is estimated that the District will take over approximately 12,800 services on or about May 1, 1954. The revenue for the eight months May 1 to December 31, 1954, is estimated to be $640,000. Revenues for subsequent years are estimated from the populations and number of services (at 3.2 persons per service) tabulated on page 15. Charges begin at $75 per year per service; estimated reductions in subsequent years would permit a $50 annual charge by 1978. IN STA LLA TIO N O F W A T E R M ET ER S It is recommended in the Greeley & Hansen, Montgomery, and Black & Veatch engineering reports that the Las Vegas Valley W ater District install meters on its service connections. Funds are available for this “purpose in the Montgomery cost estimate under the heading “Miscellaneous additional improvements to distribution system”. If meters were to be installed, the Montgomery report recommends the following rate structure, as one which would be workable and which would produce sufficient revenues to meet the anticipated costs of operating expendi­tures, debt service, reserve for contingencies and additions and extensions to the system : Minimum monthly charge, Y%" meter........................................... $3.00 (Allowance, 5,000 gallons) 5.000 to 25,000 gallons per month................................................... .30 per 1,000 gallons 25.000 to 250,000 gallons per month.........................................................22 per 1,000 gallons Over 250,000 gallons per month............................................................... 18 per 1,000 gallons /\*> 4V / With respect to the installation of water meters by the District, attention is called to Section 6112, Nevada Compiled Laws (being a portion of the Public Service Commission Act of the State of Nevada), which provides in part as follows: “The [public service] commission may, when necessary, ascertain and prescribe for each ,,**) kind of public utility adequate, convenient and serviceable standards for the measurement of quality, pressure, voltage or other conditions pertaining to the supply of the product or service rendered by any public utility, and prescribe reasonable regulations for the examination and testing of such products or service and for the measurement thereof. Any consumer, user or party served may have the quality or quantity of the product or the character of any service rendered by any public utility tested upon the payment of fees fixed by the commission, which fees, however, shall be paid by the public utility and repaid to the complaining party if the quality or quantity of the product or the character of the service be found by the commission defective or insufficient in a degree to justify the demand for testing; or the commission may apportion the fees between the parties as justice may require; provided, that it shall be unlawful for any public utility for any purpose or object whatever, in any city or town containing more than four thousand five hundred inhabitants, to install, operate or use, within such city or town, any mechanical water meter, or similar mechanical device, to measure the quantity of water delivered to water users; provided further, that nothing in the immediate foregoing proviso shall apply to cities and towns owning and operating municipal water works.” (Emphasis added.) The territory of the City of Las Vegas is the only portion of the District affected by the foregoing statute. The other two cities (North Las Vegas and Henderson) have municipally owned and operated water systems. Unincorporated territory is not subject to the provisions of the statute. 21 Section 6112 may not be applicable to the W ater District, in view of the following provisions of the District A c t: Section 1 and subparagraph 6 thereof contain in part the following: “A water district may be created in the Las Vegas valley, as hereinafter provided for, for the following objects and purposes: . . . to conserve and reclaim water for present and future use within the district; to appropriate and acquire water and water rights and import water into the district and to conserve the same within the district, for any useful purpose of the district. . . . ” Section 19 provides in part as follows: “This act shall in itself constitute complete authority for the doing of the things herein authorized to be done. The provisions of no other law, either general or local, except as provided in this act, shall apply to doing of the things herein authorized to be done, and no board, agency, bureau or official, other than the governing body of the district and the public 'Service -commission of the State'of Nevada shall have any authority or jurisdiction over the doing of any of the acts herein authorized to be done nor shall any proceedings, nor publication notice of election be required for the doing of such acts except as herein specifically required.” Chapter 307, Nevada Statutes, 1951, amended Section 19 by deleting the words “and the public service commission of the State of Nevada” shown above by strike-out type. The Board of Directors of the District believes that flat rates result in an uncontrollable waste of water and that substantial quantities can be saved by the installation of water meters. The Board at this time expects to install meters, and if litigation is instituted to prevent meter installation, the District will assert and defend its right to provide metered water service. If a court holds that the District is without power to install meters within the City of Las Vegas, then it is the intention of the Board of Directors to seek the necessary legislation to authorize the District to install meters therein. Although the District’s policy is to provide for the installation of meters, in the interests of conservatism all projections of revenues and water consumption in this Statement have been made on a flat-rate basis. The proposed flat rates are somewhat lower than the comparable metered rates recommended by the Engineers and therefore result in lower projected revenues. The installation of water meters will undoubtedly result in a reduction of water consumption, thereby prolonging the expected life of water supplies beyond the dates anticipated in flat-rate projections. Although meter installation will tend to increase operating costs, this additional cost will be offset to a large extent by a reduction in the cost of water production. An additional reason for using flat-rate projections has been to make the projected District data comparable to the past data of the Las Vegas Land and W ater Company, all of which has been based upon flat rates. W ater Rights: Pursuant to contract, the District will acquire from the Las Vegas Land and W ater Company, among other properties, water rights to an aggregate of 23.37 c.f.s. (16,919 acre feet) of water annually from the underground waters of the Las Vegas Valley. In addition to its underground rights, the District has certain additional rights to waters of the Colorado River. The State of Nevada by contract with the United States is entitled to annual delivery of 300,000 acre feet of water from the Colorado River. The District by agreement with the State is entitled to annual delivery of 43,000 acre feet from the 300,000 acre feet allotted to the State. The State Engineer of Nevada nas granted the District a permit to annually appropriate for municipal purposes 59 c.f.s. (43,000 acre feet) of Colorado River water from storage in Lake Mead. The District has until January 24, 1962, in which to apply the appropriated water to beneficial use and to the extent it is so beneficially used it will ripen into a vested water right for that quantity. An Appendix to this Official Statement contains the Opinion of Leo A. McNamee of the law firm of McNamee & McNamee, Las Vegas, Nevada, concerning the water rights owned or to be acquired by the District. 22