By Amy Calder, Morning Sentinel, Waterville, Maine
Feb. 4--WATERVILLE -- Waterville residents are paying higher fees to the Waterville Sewerage District, effective Jan. 1.
The rate increase is a result of increased costs to the district for items such as fuel, energy and the cost for treatment at the Kennebec Sanitary Treatment District, according to District Engineer Roland Lapointe.
The last rate increase was 16 years ago -- in 1994, Lapointe said Wednesday.
"It's been a long, long time," he said.
Before the increase, residents paid $1.61 per 100 cubic feet of water used; they now pay $2.24 per 100 cubic feet, Lapointe said.
A consumer using 1,800 cubic feet of water quarterly, now pays $40.25 quarterly, as opposed to $28.98 previously, Lapointe said.
Rate increases for residents are driven largely by treatment plant expenses, according to Lapointe.
"Even at that (increase), that's still just about the lowest (rate) that you can find."
He said residents in Maine pay an average of $105 per quarter.
The city also is paying higher rates, effective Jan. 1, for stormwater treatment and transportation.
Before the rate change, the city paid $220,996 annually, according to Lapointe. The new rate is $271,466, which represents a 23 percent increase, he said.
Catch basin costs also have increased, from $237,187 per year to $306,123 per year, he said.
Lapointe said the city's revenues are being strapped in a number of different ways and the timing of the increase is not ideal.
But sewerage district officials have been looking at raising rates since 2007. If the district had increased rates an average of 1.6 percent per year over 16 years, it would have amounted to about a $7,000 increase per year, he said. The district does not raise its rates every year, in part, because it is costly and the district must hire a consultant each time it does so, he said.
The district put off a rate increase in 2008.
"Come 2009, we really didn't have any choice," he said. "We had to put it in place."
City Manager Michael Roy sent a letter to the district asking for a rate increase postponement and district officials did delay it six months.
Lapointe said that in 1993, the district's annual apportionment to the Kennebec Sanitary Treatment District was $522,000 a year and in 2008, it was $960,000 a year.
"You can just see from that what's happening," he said. "Sixteen years -- what doesn't go up in 16 years?"
While LaPointe explained the city's rate increase at a City Council meeting Tuesday, Mayor Paul LePage asked if district board members considered that the increase is occurring at the deepest part of the recession.
Lapointe said the board does recognize it is not a good time, but felt the increase could not be put off any longer.
"It's a rough message to have to deliver and I appreciate your not shooting the messenger," he said.
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