A current fiscal year annual bill and capital fee bill from the Derby WPCA.
DERBY — A public hearing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (May 29) on a proposed sewer budget that includes the first fee increases in about seven years.
The new rates will add between $30 to $37 to the typical residential sewer bill.
The total does not include the annual $257 capital fee homeowners are paying connected to the $31.2 million sewer repair referendum approved by voters in 2014. That separate bill will still arrive.
The potential fee increase from the Water Pollution Control Authority comes at a tough time, as members of the city’s Board of Apportionment and Taxation could raise taxes to correct an accounting mistake. Click here for a story on that separate issue.
The WPCA had been working on a budget months before the city revealed the accounting issue to the public this month.
The WPCA public hearing is scheduled to be held in front of the Derby Water Pollution Control Authority in City Hall at 1 Elizabeth St. The budget could be adopted at a “special meeting” of the WPCA immediately after the public hearing.
Click here to read the public hearing agenda.
Click here to read the agenda for the special meeting.
The proposed WPCA budget totals $2.8 million.
Right now residential properties connected to the sewer system pay a per unit fee of $250, plus a consumption rate of 74 cents per gallon/per day/per year.
Under the newly proposed budget, the per unit fee increases to $275. The new consumption rate would be 80 cents.
To calculate a water bill for a single-family house, one must know the total usage for the fiscal year (which is on your most recent WPCA bill), divide the total usage by 365 days, and then multiply the result by the consumption rate. Finally, add your result to the annual flat rate.
Example: under the current fee structure, a single-family house in Derby (mine) that used 74,056 gallons of water received a WPCA bill of about $400 in the current fiscal year (plus the separate $257 bill connected to the 2014 referendum).
Under the new fee and rate structure, that bill would increase by about $37 next year, totaling $437 (assuming water use remains the same).
The rate for commercial and industrial users is increasing, too. The current consumption rate of $3.66 is going to $4. The current minimum charge of $250 is going to $275 under the proposed budget.
Mixed-use properties currently pay a consumption rate of $3.66 plus a flat fee of $250 per unit. Those numbers are increasing to $4 and $275, according to WPCA documents.
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Jack Walsh, the chairman of the Derby WPCA (a volunteer, appointed position) said there has not been a rate increase since 2012.
Meanwhile, Derby’s water use has been declining for about 10 years, Walsh said, thanks to more efficient toilets and conscious consumers.
That means less revenue coming in, while the costs to staff, operate and maintain the sewer system increase, Walsh said.
“Obviously it’s an increase, and you never want an increase, but how do you avoid it, especially when you’ve got a plant that is 40 years old? Things break,” Walsh said. “You need new equipment. You need to get the staffing up to where it should be. We’re just adjusting.”
In the run-up to the 2014 $31.2 million sewer referendum, engineers noted the city had been ignoring its sewer system, allowing pump stations to continue to be used past the machinery’s expected lifespan.
The situation led to the City of Derby getting into trouble with environmental regulators on both the state and federal levels.
During the first six months of 2012, the city was responsible for leaking more than 300,000 gallons of raw sewage into the Housatonic River from an outdated pump station on Roosevelt Drive.
That pump station, across from Cemetery Avenue on Roosevelt Drive, is now being replaced.
The WPCA has been working hard to turn things around, Walsh said.
“We’ve come a long way. We’re now in compliance with every EPA order we were under. That wasn’t easy, nor was it inexpensive,” Walsh said.
At a recent tax board meeting, Derby City Treasurer Keith McLiverty noted the WPCA has an unusually large fund balance (or reserve fund) — one that is equal to the size of the operating budget.
Walsh said the reserve fund was about $2.4 million as of June 30, 2018 (the most recently available audit).
Over the years, the fund balance grew after a housing community in Orange off Route 34 connected to the Derby sewer system. In addition, the WPCA picked up money through things such as court liens, which previously had not been budgeted, Walsh said.
The WPCA has kept the fund balance large due to the financial risk involved in running an out-of-date sewage treatment plant, Walsh said.
When equipment fails at the main sewage treatment plant off Caroline Street, there are no cheap fixes.
“We just spent $80,000 to replace a piece of equipment,” Walsh said.
Compounding the problem — $14 million in taxpayer-approved upgrades slated for the aging treatment plant are on hold as the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments, with assistance from the local towns and cities, conducts a study to see whether regionalizing sewer systems in some manner could save money.
The state does not want Derby investing millions in the treatment plant if a cheaper alternative is found.
Walsh said he supports the study — but it means a lot of old equipment is still being used, so the WPCA has to budget for equipment failures at the main plant.
“Look, it we can save the City of Derby money, we should absolutely be doing it. But it’s very frustrating at the same time,” Walsh said.
The chairman said fund balances shouldn’t be used as “slush funds” for a given organization. Eventually that fund balance will be smaller, he said.
Rick Dunne is the executive director of the Naugatuck Valley of Governments, and a Derby resident.
He said the WPCA’s reserve funds make sense. The Valley is full of underground piping that is 100 years old. Local WPCAs should be replacing or upgrading pipes every year, Dunne said. The problem is — WPCAs run lean, and don’t invest in smaller items such as underground pipe replacement.
When old pipes break, it is expensive — just look at Ansonia, where a recent Pershing Drive break was estimated to cost something like $1 million.
“Every WPCA should have this type of emergency fund. It’s not relative to the operating budget. You don’t look at it like a city looks at a fund balance, where you should have five to 10 percent of your operating budget set aside,” Dunne said. “This should be used every year to maintain the infrastructure and to deal with unanticipated emergencies.”
Walsh also said the WPCA is finally budgeting for overtime, especially on the weekends. That’s to immediately address overflow issues, which can be common during heavy rain.
