Water, Sewer Rate Hike Proposed

Residents could see a rise in water and sewer rates in fiscal year 2012-2013, if the Meriden City Council passes an increase in the two that is included in the City Manager's proposed budget for next year. 

Public Utilities Director David Lohman told the city council's Finance Committee Tuesday night in a meeting on the budget that his department was aiming to increase its current rates to pay for future capital improvements.

Water bills would increase about 20 cents per 100 cubic feet and sewer rates would also separately go up another 20 cents on 100 cubic feet of sewer usage next year, Lohman said. There would also be a small increase in service fees. 

In all, a family of four would see about a $55 increase in its combined water and sewer rates over a year's time, according to Lohman.

Residents and business owners currently pay $3.15 per 100 cubic feet of water use and $3.50 per 100 cubic feet for sewer use. New rates would be $3.35 for water and $3.70 for sewer. The last increase was in Dec. 2010, according to Lohman. The city also changed its historically twice-yearly at the beginning of this year.

Even with the increase, Meriden water rates would likely still be well below the state average. According to an annual water survey by consultants Tighe and Bond, the average water cost for a "typical" homeowner in the state was $415 in 2011, compared with $302 in 2011 in Meriden. Surrounding towns each had higher rates in the survey, with Wallingford at $369, Southington at $318, and Cheshire at $477.

The city's sewer rates in 2011 were just above the state average of $369 at $372 and below rates in Wallingford at $404, Southington at $384. Cheshire's rate was lower at $345. (The company's town-by-town comparisons are attached to this article in PDF.)

Lohman says he believes that even with the increase Meriden will stay near the state's average sewer cost because so many other towns will be raising rates to cover capital improvements in their systems.

"Sewer's a moving target because there's so many updates. Rates are changing yearly," Lohman said. "We probably have half a dozen plants (in the state) going through an upgrade."

The increase is part of the city's effort to rebuild its reserves in the department for upcoming capital improvements in the water and sewer facilities. The fund, officials say, was tapped for the plant upgrade done over the last few years.

One of the big capital projects on the horizon is an upgrade to Broadbrook Treatment Plant and Pump Station, slated to begin construction in late 2013, early 2014, according to Lohman. Broadbrook, the city's largest treatment plant was built in 1927 and was last upgraded in the late 1970s, "keeping some of structures from '27 era," Lohman said.

The renovation seeks to address algae issues that have sometimes given an odd scent to the water residents have running out of the tap, Lohman said.

On the sewer side, the city may also end up paying to retrofit its Water Pollution Control Facility in the next few years with $13 - 14 million in technology to reduce levels of phosphorous in the water it treats and routes into the Quinnipiac River. The retrofitting comes due to a federal mandate to limit the element being disbursed by treatment facilities into certain bodies of water.

Meriden, along with Wallingford and Southington is working towards a change in regulations regarding this, and whether or not the city will need the new technology is right now uncertain. (For more information see today's article on phosphorous .)

"We're really planning for the future," City Manager Lawrence Kendzior said about the rate increase at the meeting, saying that the city is addressing projects that, "simply need to be done as a matter of regulation, or given the age of our plants."