Hearing Set On Sewer Rate Hike

By Andrew Gorosko

To ensure that revenues collected cover the costs to operate the municipal sewer system, the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) is proposing a sewer use rate hike, which would boost rates by just over 7 percent.

Town Public Works Director Fred Hurley said this week the WPCA is proposing increasing the sewer use rate from $4.65 per 1,000 gallons of water used to $4.98 per 1,000 gallons of water used, reflecting a rate increase of 33 cents per 1,000 gallons of water used.

The proposed 33-cent rate hike translates into slightly more than a 7 percent rate increase.

When the sewer system began operation in September 1997, the sewer use rate was $4.40 per 1,000 gallons of water used. The $4.65 rate has been in effect for the past three years, Mr Hurley said.

 Mr Hurley said a typical quarterly residential sewer use bill is approximately $75. The proposed rate hike would increase that bill to just over $80, provided that water usage remains constant.

A typical residential household composed of three people uses between 180 and 200 gallons of water daily, Mr Hurley said.

Of the proposed rate increase, Mr Hurley said, “There’s not a whole lot to argue about here. The numbers are what they are.”

Mr Hurley projects sewer system operating costs for the 2001-2002 fiscal year at approximately $667,000.

The municipal sewer system serves the borough, Taunton Lake North, Sandy Hook Center, Nunnawauk Meadows, Fairfield Hills, and Garner Correctional Institution. The $34 million sewer system began operation in September 1997. The town built the sewer system to correct groundwater pollution problems caused by numerous failing septic systems.

Sewer-use charges are based on how much wastewater sewer users send down their drains. Sewer bills are calculated based on water meter readings.

The WPCA will conduct a public hearing on the proposed rate hike at 7:30 pm Thursday, June 28, at the town multipurpose center on Riverside Road in Sandy Hook.

Sewer-use charges are separate from sewer assessment charges, through which sewer users and all town taxpayers are paying off the capital costs of constructing the sewer system.

The town operates a second sewer system in Hawleyville, which sends wastewater to the Danbury sewage plant for treatment. That sewer system was built to stimulate the economic development of Hawleyville. The Homesteads at Newtown, an elderly housing complex, is the first user of that sewer system.