Sewer Rates to Go Up Again?
At our COW (Committee of the Whole) meeting last Monday, Nov. 13, we listened to several reports on long-term planning needs and efforts to maintain effective sewer service for the next 20 years. Much of the discussion centered on finances and the effect on your sewer rates.
The Rochester Public Utility operation is financed by user charges (sewer rates) and not by tax dollars. Much effort has gone in to address growth (our current $74 million expansion) and maintenance of aging infrastructure by balancing new attachment fees with current user rates to hold our rates to a minimum increase year to year and yet fund these needs.
We recognized that we need to do a better job of planning for the future beyond the 5 years we had in plan earlier this year. We spent almost all the time talking about projections out 20 years – with allowances for adjustments on a timely basis. We would prefer to increase rates if necessary in smaller increments rather than hold fees static and then impose a larger rate increase to pay for the new project.
This effort to plan for the future and set ourselves up to meet our needs with a reserve so as to keep us from having big jumps in rates gets complicated and I was impressed by the level of detail and work that went into Monday’s presentation by our Public Works staff and their consultants.
The Post Bulletin had a good summary of the meeting in their November 14 article by Mike Dougherty. Check it out.
As always, if you have any further questions or whatever give me a call.
The Rochester Public Utility operation is financed by user charges (sewer rates) and not by tax dollars. Much effort has gone in to address growth (our current $74 million expansion) and maintenance of aging infrastructure by balancing new attachment fees with current user rates to hold our rates to a minimum increase year to year and yet fund these needs.
We recognized that we need to do a better job of planning for the future beyond the 5 years we had in plan earlier this year. We spent almost all the time talking about projections out 20 years – with allowances for adjustments on a timely basis. We would prefer to increase rates if necessary in smaller increments rather than hold fees static and then impose a larger rate increase to pay for the new project.
This effort to plan for the future and set ourselves up to meet our needs with a reserve so as to keep us from having big jumps in rates gets complicated and I was impressed by the level of detail and work that went into Monday’s presentation by our Public Works staff and their consultants.
The Post Bulletin had a good summary of the meeting in their November 14 article by Mike Dougherty. Check it out.
As always, if you have any further questions or whatever give me a call.
posted by Bob Nowicki | 9:40 AM
3 Comments:
Traffic calming is a big issue in our ward. Someone was telling me they heard that narrow streets, bike lanes and trees can slow traffic. Why not advocate more of those? Maybe you already are.
Congrats on the election!
Trees also help with reducing and detoxifying storm water runnoff. Maybe if Rochester had an ordinance in place protecting and preserving trees we would not have to see an increase in our sewer fees.
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