On Tuesday, July 23, the Water & Sewer Authority held a public hearing to address the possibility of raising sewer usage rates nine percent. Immediately following the hearing, the board held a vote.

The issue the Water & Sewer Authority is having is that they are not making enough money to cover their operational expenses. The projected budget for operational costs is $1,226,000, but the estimated revenue before the rate increase is $955,000. That leaves a $271,000 shortfall in the budget.

“What’s happening is we’re seeing the residual from the COVID years where there were a lot of increases that were not necessarily passed along at that time,” Fred Hurley, director of Public Works explained. “Sooner or later, if you’re running a business, whether it’s a utility or a private business, you got to have enough revenue to pay your bills, and that’s basically the situation we’re in. We got to pay our bills.”

The owners of PJ’s Laundromat, Sharon and Dan Doherty, attended the hearing. Sharon Doherty spoke on behalf of her landlord, Alfredo Molinari who said, “I personally do understand that there is also a reason to raise the prices in the rates on everything, especially in today’s economy … Me, personally, if I raise prices in my restaurant at nine percent in one shot, I would be called ‘greedy,’ or perhaps ‘unfair.’”

Dan Doherty agreed, saying, “Nine percent is a big hit for us to take on the chin in one shot. We cannot just pass it on to people because they have other places to go if they want.”

The last time the sewer usage rates increased was in 2022. The rate has stayed at $8.84 for two years, but with the increase the rate is $9.64. All Newtown residents that are on the sewer system will now be paying 80 cents more per 1,000 gallons of water.

The hearing closed and the board moved to vote. The vote passed unanimously. The new rate will be applied to sewer usage starting July 2024 and will be reflected when the bills come out in September.

“We’re not trying to make money off people,” Hurley said. “If we could not raise rates, we would not raise rates, but the numbers are what the numbers are.”

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.