Water rates on the rise?

HURON — Back in 2008, Barack Obama won an election to become U.S. president, the "Twilight" movie saga premiered, and the Philadelphia Phillies captured their second and latest World Series. It's also the last time Huron's government raised water rates. After holding steady for these past 14 years, officials recently underscored the need to increase what people pay on their bills. Come Tuesday, officials organized a work session, which involves elected city council members, to discuss this pressing matter. But "council won't vote on it during this meeting," city service director Stu Hamilton said. "We want to leave enough time for people to digest it before a final decision occurs." A formal vote, however, should soon follow, likely in October, Hamilton said. If approved, a new rate structure would take effect on Jan. 1 for all 3,400 services, or customers, citywide. As a side note, these increases only affect water usage and not stormwater, garbage or other miscellaneous city-related costs locals pay. Three high-ranking Huron administrators supporting this change — Hamilton, water superintendent Jason Gibboney and city manager Matt Lasko — do expect council to accept their recommendation of raising rates based on a study conducted a few months ago. The trio answered various questions about this action: Q: If approved, what would the new rate structure be? Hamilton: Right now, people pay $2.60 per 1 CCF (or 100 cubic feet of water, which equates to 748 gallons dispensed). We are considering two options: • A 5% increase each year over 10 years • A 7.5% increase for the first six years and then a 5% increase for the remaining four years Q: What does the average water customer pay today? Gibboney: The average user is paying about $80 every three months. • Under option No. 1, that same person would pay about $84 every three months in the first year. • Under option No. 2, that same person would pay about $86 every three months in the first year. Q: Why is this needed now? Hamilton: Basically, the water system has to be more sustainable to pay for more capital improvements, increased chemical costs and the overall daily operations. During the past 14 years, all the costs we have for the water plant have continued to go up without the residents realizing any increase. We can't absorb those increases any longer without raising rates. Gibboney: And, over the last 14 years, we have done many efficiency upgrades to our water plant. We have had unprecedented growth, such as a $3 million expansion that increased our capacity from processing 3.4 million gallons of water a day to 5.8 million today. But the annual inflationary increases continue, and all of our products and chemicals we utilize have gone up. It's doubled since the onset of the coronavirus. We just can't keep up at this rate. It's recommended we have this increase. Q: What happens if you didn't raise water rates? Hamilton: If we did nothing, we would be operating in a deficit by 2025, and that can't happen. Q: Why didn't any increases happen in those 14 years? Gibboney: We found ways to avoid that. We used more modernized chemicals and maintained staff at current levels, which both saved money. We struck a new agreement with (Erie) County that afforded larger volumes of water for us and brought in more money for Huron. We brought on Mucci Farms, the largest (customer), that we have ever had. All of those things combined, among others, helped absorb some of the inflationary costs over time. Q: If rates are increased, how will the city spend this new money generated? Gibboney: We have several projects we would like to pursue over the next 10 years: • We want to create an emergency water intake at the (Huron) River to supply the water plant so that we have a reliable backup system. That's approximately $3.1 million. • We have to do the South Main Street water main replacement. That is $3.8 million. • We want to put in a new water tower on the west side of town. That is $7.4 million. • The Old Plat water main upgrade is something we want to do in the sixth or seventh year of increases. That would be $4.7 million. Right now, our budget — which is about $2.2 million — can't handle any of that. Q: What will the city do, in the future, to limit what people pay on their water bills? Hamilton: We are going to reassess water rates every three years. While we are putting 10 years of increases on the books, it will be looked at on a regular basis and adjusted as needed — and that could mean lower prices. We will also try for any and all grants to offset what our customers pay. Q: It seems like everything, especially necessities, individuals and families depend upon has gone up in price in recent times. And this is seemingly the latest expense to go up in cost. Does the city realize this? Lasko: The city remains sensitive to the economic implications of this on our residents and business owners, however, we also understand that the system has to be self-sustaining, and due to our increased costs that we have realized over the last decade and our future capital needs, the time has come for us to consider modest annual increases to ensure the success of the system.