If you have are over 60 and have a household income of $40,800 or less you have a solid shot at paying the City of Manteca $504.30 less over the course of a year for sewer, water, and garbage service.

But if you’re a struggling young single mom with a child renting making less than $40,800 a year your odds of getting a break on your monthly Manteca utility bill is dicey at best.

The decision Tuesday by Manteca elected officials to offer a more muscular discount program only for low-income seniors in the wake of significant increases without considering other low-income households prompted Council Member Regina Lackey to question the rationale.

The broad answer was the city — if and when they can access dwindling grants for such purposes — will help reduce the city bills of struggling households that are not classified as senior citizens.

It was also noted senior citizens tended to be on fixed incomes.

And while it pleased Lackey to know the city was doing what it could in looking for grants to help struggling low income families, she couldn’t help but wonder how Manteca was planning to fund the discounts for seniors was being done on the back of low-income households.

That’s because the only legal way cities in California can subsidize utility rates for a specific class of customers is either by tapping the general fund or using penalty charges collected on delinquent municipal utility accounts.

Currently, the city has $262,000 in delinquency fees collected on past due accounts. 

Based on the adopted $42.10 discount — up from the current $16.66 — spread across all three utilities, the program as adopted could accommodate 519 qualifying households where the person responsible for the utility bill is 60 years or older.

There are now 230 qualifying senior households that are having their municipal utilities subsidized.

The number of senior households that will qualify for being one of the 519 to receive a break is expected to surge significantly.

That is because Manteca is switching from the using the Housing and Urban Development income qualification guideline which is $33,750 to the more robust California Alternative Rate for Energy (CARE) established by the California Public Utilities Commission that PG&E is required to use.

The CARE income threshold for discounted electric and natural gas bills is $40,800 for a household of one or two people.

Lackey noted its highly likely many paying the delinquent charges are struggling low-income households with kids.

Mayor Gary Singh said it was his understanding that larger commercial accounts typically pay the bulk of late fees.

It was also noted that a more permanent discount program for low-income households that were not senior households was not considered because no one over the past four months when new rates were proposed inquiried about the possibility at meetings or when speaking with council members.

Those that did were low-income seniors.

At any rate, the discount  program for low-income seniors is a first come, first served endeavor.

Given it is based on available late charges collected over the course of a year,  the number of qualified senior customers that could access the discount program varies from year to year.

It is why there is a July 1 deadline to apply.

The process requires providing documents of the income of all occupants of a household applying for the break.

Many cities do offer low-income discounts regardless of age.

Those cities also tap into delinquent fees collected on municipal utility accounts.

Some cities will also commit a set dollar amount from their general funds that also underwrite day-to-day municipal services such as police, fire, street upkeep, park maintenance, and such.

The basic charge for sewer, water, and garbage service is targeted to increase to $139.49 per month on May 15.

The rate plan for the utilities include annual increases until the rock bottom residential utility bill in Manteca — save those who qualify for senior discounts — will reach $170.10 by 2028.

That translates into just over $2,040 a year for municipal utility service.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com