Residents could be hit with an extra sewer bill this year, as the first payment date for the city’s new $53 million waste water treatment plant nears.
But two weeks before a public hearing on the proposed bill, city leaders are still trying to figure out how much to charge residents and businesses that hook into city sewer lines.
The city has to get together $6.8 million by July 2012 to make the first payment.
The public hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. on May 5 at Ansonia City Hall.
Ballpark Figures
WPCA and city leaders are reluctant to estimate what the bill could be, because the price may change, depending on last-minute negotiations with the state and the way the city divides the payments.
“It will be as fair and equitable as we can make it,” said Acting Mayor Stephen Blume, who is working with Water Pollution Control Authority officials to determine the rate residents will be charged.
But numbers floated during public hearings on the same issue two years ago could give an indication of what residents are facing — anywhere from $100 a year to $300 a year on top of their normal sewer usage bills.
When the proposal was first discussed in 2008, residents were concerned about the extra payments in a tough economy. There was also debate about whether the bills should be higher for commercial units and whether multi-family houses should get several bills or just one.
None of those issues have been resolved.
During the past two years, no sewer users have been billed for the new plant payments.
Read a past article about concerns with the delay in billing.
Negotiations
Instead, the city tried to come up with a way to lower the $6.8 million payment by seeking federal and state grants or stimulus money.
Those efforts have not turned up any extra money yet, Blume said.
So, the city is trying one last negotiation to get the state to waive a $2.3 million reserve payment due with the first payment, Blume said.
The state wants the reserve as part of the first payment as a guarantee, Blume said.
Until there is an answer from the state, the WPCA will estimate user bills on the full $6.8 million bill.
Bills Likely This Summer
Facing the reality that the bill is due soon, the WPCA is hoping to start collecting fees this year so the payments are spread out over three payment cycles, instead of two.
“We have a finite number that we’re trying to collect,” said WPCA chairman Howard Madigosky.
The question is whether it will be easier for residents to pay their share over the course of two years or three years, Madigosky said.
In order to spread the payment over three cycles, the first bill would come around in May or June this year, Madigosky said.
