WPCA Approves 7 Percent Sewer Rate Hike

By Andrew Gorosko

To meet rising expenses, the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) has increased municipal sewer-usage rates by approximately seven percent.

WPCA members increased the sewer-usage fees following a January 8 public hearing, at which no members of the public were present to speak on the matter.

The increased sewer-usage rates will take effect in the town’s next quarterly billing for sewer system’s accounts, said Public Works Director Fred Hurley. That bill is scheduled to be mailed to sewer system users in February. The central sewer system has 948 accounts.

Under the new fee schedule, the sewer-usage rate will increase from $5.33 to $5.70 per 1,000 gallons of wastewater discharged into the sewer system.

Also, the minimum quarterly fee for sewer usage will increase from $25 to $26.75.

Certain properties that are charged “flat fees” for sewer usage will see their quarterly rate increase from $75 to $80.25, which reflects the typical usage for a single-family home, Mr Hurley said. Flat fees are charged to sewer system customers who use unmetered domestic water wells for their drinking water, instead of using a metered public water supply.

Sewer bills vary, depending upon the number of people in a household, and how much water they use and then send down their drains.

A larger family uses more water, discharges more wastewater into the sewer system, and thus has a higher quarterly sewer-use bill. A family of six might use twice as much water as a family of three.

Sewer-usage bills are based on water usage bills. United Water’s water bills for sewered properties are used in calculating sewer-usage bills.

The increased sewer rates seek to “close the gap” between sewer system revenues and the sewer system’s operational costs, Mr Hurley said.

The WPCA’s budget for the 2003–04 fiscal year is approximately $1,345,000. That figure includes the sewer-usage rate hike. The WPCA’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.

The WPCA approved the last sewer-use rate hike in September 2002, when rates by increased by seven percent, rising from $4.98 to $5.33 per 1,000 gallons of wastewater discharged into the sewer system.

The central sewer system went into operation in September 1997. The original rate for sewer usage was $4.40 per 1,000 gallons of wastewater discharged. The new sewer-usage rate of $5.70 per 1,000 gallons is 29.5 percent higher than the original sewer-usage rate.

Sewer-usage charges are separate from sewer assessment charges, through which sewer users are paying off the capital costs of constructing the central sewer system in the mid 1990s. All local property taxpayers help pay off the sewer system’s capital costs.

The central municipal sewer system serves the Borough, Taunton Lake North, Sandy Hook Center, Nunnawauk Meadows, Fairfield Hills, Garner Correctional Institution, and several public schools. The $34 million central sewer system began operation in September 1997. The town built that sewer system to correct groundwater pollution problems caused by numerous failing septic systems. Wastewater is cleansed at a sewage treatment plant on Commerce Road.

The town operates a second, much smaller 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.