A group of concerned residents Tuesday urged the Water Pollution Control Authority take a different approach to pay for the city’s new waste water treatment plant.
Instead of billing based on units — where all single-family houses pay the same amount, regardless of how many people use the sewage system — the WPCA should bill based on actual usage, the residents said during a public hearing on the fees.
“Water flow would be more equitable,” said Edward Norman, who was one of about 15 people who attended the public hearing at City Hall.
The WPCA has proposed a billing structure that would mean a one-family home would pay $285 a year in a sewer use capital fee, on top of the annual sewer use fee.
The capital fee — proposed to pay off a $36 million loan on the new waste water treatment plant — would be higher for multi-family homes and businesses based on a “multiplier” scale.
The WPCA is scheduled to vote on the fee schedule at its regular meeting Wednesday night.
Concerns
Resident concerns about the proposal varied.
Some, like real estate agent Carmen Burns, worried the extra fee would make it harder to sell homes in the city.
Others were concerned that businesses like car washes, schools and nursing homes wouldn’t be paying their fair share.
And still other residents wondered why the WPCA wasn’t collecting the money earlier to reduce the burden on tax payers who are now being hit with a large bill.
Many of the people in attendance spoke more than once.
The Breakdown
The proposed bills were determined using conservative figures for both sewer units and collection rates, according to Peter Georgetti, a project manager with United International Corp., one of two firms overseeing the project.
While the city has an estimated 8,500 sewer units, the collection fees are based on only 8,000 units, Georgetti said.
Also, the WPCA is assuming a 90 percent collection rate, which is a low estimate.
“We wanted to be conservative,” Georgetti said. “I think the point, too, is this will be re-evaluated each year.”
The WPCA will look at collection rates and total amount collected and adjust the fees if needed each year, Georgetti said.
There will also be an appeals process for residents who contest their bills, Georgetti said.
Costs
The total waste water treatment plant project is slated to cost $56.69 million over 20 years. That figure includes interest.
The WPCA received about $11.9 million in state grants and has about $36 million in loans to pay back.
With interest costs, sewer users in Ansonia will have paid $44 million by the time the loans are complete, Georgetti said.
The WPCA is collecting fees starting this month, to store up about $4 million before the first loan payment comes due in 2012. Each year the WPCA will owe about $2.2 million.
The city was required to update the waste water treatment plant, or face increasing costs in required nitrogen credits to the state because of the level of nitrogen being released into the Naugatuck River from the plant.
Those credits would have racked up to about $537,000 a year in 2014, according to Stephen E. Seigal, a representative with CDM engineers, the other firm overseeing the project.
The Fee Schedule
The proposed payment scale varies depending on type of occupant.
For example a single-family home would pay $285 a year, while a major store like Target would pay $1,710 a year.
Fast food establishments would owe about $1,425 a year.
Two-family homes would owe $570.
View the full fee schedule in the document below.
Ansonia WPCA Hearing
