(4/10) In a remarkable turn of roles at its April monthly meeting, the Town Council found itself pushing back on calls by residents to raise the water and sewer rates. The Council finally relented and agreed to a 5% across the board rate-increase in both water and sewer rates.
The call from residents came just after a close too forty-five-minute line-by-line review of the water and sewer finances as part of the long anticipated citizen’s budget workshop.
As Burgess Barnes walked the residents through all the expenses the Town incurs while running its water and sewer facilities, and the corresponding income that is generated by those services, concerns that many residents brought into the workshop morphed into desires to find viable, long-term solutions.
Commissioner Rittelmeyer picked up where he left off at the March meeting, re-enforcing his belief that operations of the water and sewer systems were better than ever, but conceded that under the old operator, the system was run under a "run until it breaks, then fix it," philosophy.
Under the new operating company, he said, "they are doing more preventive maintenance, which in the long run will help prevent equipment from failing." While Rittelmeyer lauded the new way the facilities are being run, he cautioned that initially it was going to cost the Town more money.
In response to Barnes’ statement that the water fund was good for next year, but the year after was questionable, former Commissioner Dennis Kline called for the Council to "stop kicking the can down the road and raise the water rates high enough to get ahead and stay ahead of all current and future repair needs." Kline’s calls were greeted by almost universal affirmative head nods from the audience, who then chimed in with suggested increases.
As numbers were suggested by residents, Commissioner Rittelmeyer did the math, reminding everyone that with only 467 hook-ups, that it would require a significant rate increase to make a meaningful dent in the expected shortfalls resulting from increased preventative maintenance costs.
While Barnes was supportive of a rate increase, he resisted calls for a 10% increase, noting that while "that doesn’t sound like a lot, it’s a lot for someone on a fixed budget."
Looking to bring the discussion to some sort of compromise, Commissioner Cutshall recommended that the Town increase both water and sewer rates 5% across the board, every year for five years. While the 5% recommendation met with the approval of Barnes and Rittelmeyer, both pushed back on the need to lock in the 5% increase every year.
"Part of doing each year’s budget is to revisit the water and sewer revenue and expenses every year and make adjustments as necessary, so I don’t see any reason to lock in a 5-year series of increases," said Barnes.
With a head nodding audience looking on, the Council unanimously approved Cutshall’s recommended 5% rate increase, but for only one year.
Under the approved rates, residents will now pay a flat rate of $21/quarter for a "connection fee" for water, and $6.04 for every 1,000 gallons of water used. The sewer fee will be $147/quarter for the first 10,000 gallons, and an extra $14.70 for every 1,000 gallons after that.
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