A screen shot from the May 13 meeting of the Derby Water Pollution Control Authority.
DERBY — A public hearing on the proposed WPCA budget is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 27.
The proposed budget does not raise rates.
The meeting will be held online using the ZOOM video conferencing platform. The public can join the meeting by clicking this link.
At a meeting May 13, the appointed, volunteer members of the Water Pollution Control Authority were adamant about not raising rates this year.
“I don’t see there is anyway we can go up on our fees this year. We raised fees last year. People are really hurting now because of this coronavirus. We are going to have a lot of people out of work. It’s not a time to raise rates,” said Jack Walsh, the WPCA’s chairmen.
Authority member Kelly Curtis agreed.
“This is not the year to do it. We can’t have an increase. Either we cut something or we bite the bullet and go into our rainy day account,” Curtis said.
Right now residential properties connected to the sewer system pay a per unit fee of $275, plus a consumption rate of 80 cents per gallon/per day/per year.
In addition to the annual WPCA bill, single-family residential homeowners also pay an annual $257 capital fee. That goes toward a 2014 referendum in which voters authorized up to $31.2 million for a number of upgrades and repairs to the sewer system.
Budget documents shared at the May 13 WPCA meeting showed the WPCA with cash reserve of some $3 million. The members talked about dipping into that account to cover items such as a 15 percent increase in medical insurance.
Walsh said the cash reserve is needed to cover equipment failure and potential other infrastructure calamities.
“If something breaks for us, it could be a huge expense,” Walsh said.
Last May the Ansonia WPCA took about $915,000 from its $2 million reserve to pay for repairs after the collapse of three sewer pipes.
