Proposed Sewer Rate Increase
There were eight people in attendance at the sewer commissioners meeting yesterday. Those residents seem very interested in the proposed sewer rate hike. The Commissioners presented a handout from Woodcock & Associates who performed the rate study. This proposal includes a recommended 35 % first year increase in the sewer rates. The good news is there is not an inflated "customer service charge" included in the sewer rates.
There was discussion about collecting sewer payments that are in arrears ($107,000) and the lack of cooperation with the water department in turning off the water for sewer customers. There was discussion about offsetting the sewer rate increase with an increase in septage. There are capacity limits for treating septage and the costs and the toll that treatment has on the operation of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP).
There are state and federal loan programs to offset the cost of some of the upgrades to the collection system, but most of the cost of the upgrades will be borne by the sewer rate payers. The sewer commissioners are willing to reassess the per cent increase.
Some questions for future discussion:
Debt schedule of the WWTP - when does the debt retire from capital projects already completed?
What are the proposed projects that necessitate the sewer increase?
More informational meetings will be had before the sewer rate hearing is scheduled.
Water and sewer rate increase will impact every taxpayer in Templeton. These increases impact the schools, public offices and businesses. These increases will make it difficult to attract new businesses to town. These increases will have a major impact on people on a fixed income.
Thank you Sewer Commissioners! Thank you for holding meetings prior to a public rate hearing to gather public input on sewer increases that impact many people.
Down hear on the lower forty where our only charge for sewer is a bag of lime every other year were thinkin has there ever been a rate study that ended up with a lowering of the rates?
ReplyDeleteThe only one i know of was early this year when the light customer charge was reduced by 25% by the gifted General manager and commission. Some think it was to sway the votes to shit can the commission. All the issues i brought out then are now reality and with the large increase in the rates for all services in Templeton the buck stops here. Literally!
ReplyDeleteCare to vote on that again?
Having spent many years on the commission I think I can say a rate study done by an Engineering Firm will give you any result that you want. If you are spending twenty thousand dollars on the study you simply tell them what you want for a rate and they will get you there. Engineers and Lawyers are hired guns and so long as your money holds out can be your best friends. With all we accomplished from 1993 to 2011 the Sewer Commissioners never needed to use hired guns and were content to use their Superintendent and figure it out for ourselves, it is not all that complicated.
ReplyDeleteHi Pete, your assessment of some engineers and lawyers may be correct, but when you were chairman had you bothered to get a study done before setting the artificially high (and as it turns out) illegal connection fee, the sewer department would not have had to spend another 20 grand in Superior Court to fight the recent law suit. Turns out that you can't charge more than actual costs, otherwise it's considered a tax and the sewer department is not a taxing authority. And by the way, the engineering firm was not advised by anyone as to what the expected results should be, and I resent that implication. Perhaps the commissioners should have hired you to do the rate study. You might know something about how shit flows through the plant but that doesn't make you an engineer. "It's not all that complicated"
ReplyDeleteHi Tom, your assessment of the artificially based entrance fee ($12,000) that had been set in about 2001-2002 was justified with our legal counsel at that time and pasted mustard for quite some time. I was the lone vote against that increase as past minutes will show, should you ever have the time to look. According to my recollection, and you never bothered to ask me, it is not a tax if you are not forced to tie in, which no one is. Past legal notes in the files will show this. In my opinion having Mark Mochetti on the Sewer Commission voting to lower the entrance fees for future sewer users and his brother on the planning board in a position to benefit from these rate decreases is typical Templeton politics. I spoke to Mark about this in a conversation held in Templeton Center. If you would like a second opinion on what I have said please contact the other two commissioners who voted for the rate increase Mr. Kirby and Mr. Henshaw as I believe they will back what I am saying, of course you have probably already done your due diligence and have had that talk. You are welcome to take cheap shots at my knowledge if you would like but it might make more sense for the betterment of Templeton to use my experience "for what it is worth."
DeletePete, thank you for your input. Interesting what you said about being forced or not forced to connect, that's an interesting point. Water over the dam anyway, since the superior court judge clearly did not agree with the previous legal opinion about the legality of the tie-in fee. I have had "the talk" and I don't agree with your opinion about family benefits....and I have no dog in the fight. Wouldn't be fair to say that if the connection fee were to be lowered,(which is the current plan) then it would actually reduce income for those in the business of installing septic systems? So your argument against the other board member benefiting doesn't make sense to me.
DeleteRegarding my "cheap shot" ....if you are a civil engineer with waste water experience then I stand corrected. I'm not and neither is anyone else in town that I am aware of. Otherwise I think that it is for everyone's benefit to seek professional advice in these matters, even if it costs a few dollars. Then when the decisions are challenged, there are facts and figures to show how the numbers were arrived at.
BTW, why did you oppose the high connection fee way back when?
Tom
Tom, the option to tie in or not was key as I remember and the entrance fee cost had to be justified which to the commissioners at the time it was. The Commissioners were threatened many times with a lawsuit regarding the increase but the legal logic was sound at that time. Times change. The planning board stated they had the right to make people tie into the sewer because of a by-law stating this,but this did not hold water with legal (K&P) as the Sewer Commissioners were created to handle sewer issues. Had that Planning Board by-law held water then you are correct the entrance would be considered a tax and fall under different rules. The prior entrance fee was $5000 as this coincided with the 25% betterment which was the historical method used to set the entrance fee. It made no sense and did not seem a fair way to do business charging people new to town a lower rate then what it would cost for people who had lived here all there lives to tie into sewer along a new line that had just been installed.
DeleteIt is my opinion that family ties have an interest in possible sewer at both the Candlelight Pond area and Exit 19 area not to mention possible other areas in that section of town. By having a lower entrance fee a great deal of money can be saved by developers. That would appear to be good for developers but not as good for the town but of course all is in the eye of the beholder. It is my understanding that once a treatment plant hit 80% of its capacity plans must begin for an upgrade to handle future loads so using up the capacity of the plant as soon as possible could possibly cost taxpayers/users plenty.
I was fortunate to have two PE Engineers with wastewater experience that I could turn to when needed for free, along with the hired guns. Mr. Hughs and Mr Taylor both PE's lived in town and were a valuable asset to the commissioners at the time.
It is good to have Engineers to look at Sewer Rates if you are new to the subject but you have a Superintendent that in my opinion knows the field pretty well and has handled the task competently for many years. It is my experience that having someone else be the bad guy (Engineers) is just passing the buck and not showing much responsibility but that is just my opinion.
Even though I understood the logic used by Mr. Kirby and Mr. Henshaw of raising the entrance fee back in 2000-2001 and believed it was legal after checking with Mr. Hamilton of Merrick O'Connell our legal counsel the increased entrance fee seemed a bit excessive at the time and that is why I did not vote for it.
All good input. I still do not agree with you wrt one board member making decisions that might be purposely beneficial to other relatives on other boards and vice versa. This is a small town."everything affects everything else", you can't avoid it. Just keep an eye on it. I know the Sewer chairman does not vote on issues that might affect him or his relatives. Could something slide through? Sure it could...no system is perfect. These issues are one reason why I have been calling for more information be put on the town website. I feel if we put everything up for people to look at, review, ask questions etc,.there will be more understanding and less complaining and feeling screwed. That,s why we put the rate study up....ask questions, challenge assumptions, make suggestions...no problem. Nothing happens in secret and no arbitrary decisions are being made. Maybe that happens elsewhere in town, I dunno.
DeleteFeel free to attend the next meeting in January with your opinions or suggestions prior to the actual rate hearing in the spring. Even you are welcome. :) But please no pitch about flouride or conspiracies :(
I've wandered way off topic. The current rates are near the bottom in the state as opposed to the water and electric rates which are among the highest. We'd like to continue that work, so if you have suggestions as to how the current board could do even better, feel free to make suggestions.
Over-and-out
Certainly agree with transparency in government but always on the lookout for major self interest. Keep up the good work Tom, it is appreciated.
DeleteIt is very interesting that there has been no uproar from those watching out for us taxpayers about the exorbitant sewer connection fee and the resulting lawsuit. Most nearly every article from TGN is posted here in, but the one that mentions the lawsuit was not. It appears that the taxpayers interests are only being watched out for in regards to the money hungry school and light/water department. That the past sewer commissioners just figured it out on their own was not a good thing. I wonder how our high sewer connection rate compared to others in the state. I think this blog as a place to go for facts is a stretch. I think it is a place to go for facts based on opinions!
ReplyDeleteReview i think you missed it!
ReplyDelete