There’s another proposal to raise the water and sewer rates in Fredonia.
Trustee David Bird floated it at the Board of Trustees meeting this week. He wants to raise the base rate by $5 per pay period and the usage rate by $1 per 1,000 gallons.
Bird said treating and cleaning costs for water are way up, and the rate hike will partially cover that. “The water and the sewer have not been raised since 2017,” he added.
“It’s a good starting point to get us back on track.”
Trustee James Lynden, who saw his own rate hike plan defeated a few weeks ago, criticized Bird’s proposal. Lynden said his proposal would have cost taxpayers less than Bird’s plan.
“My proposal effectively gave the majority of the community a bit of a savings but effectively solved the issue,” he said. Lynden wanted to do away with base fees entirely and go to a sliding rate scale based on usage.
“I’m proposing this now because the fact is, we are losing gobs and gobs of money right now in our current water and sewer rates,” Bird said. He added that he rejected Lynden’s plan because it would have disproportionately affected large scale, commercial users.
“It just equitably raises amongst everybody,” Bird said of his own plan. “The $5 (base rate hike) is based on the fact that everybody uses the pipes, everybody has the repairs.”
Mayor Douglas Essek, who joined several local businesses in criticizing Lynden’s plan, backed Bird’s proposal.
“Equitable means equal,” Essek said. “And the plan that Trustee Bird is proposing is an equal amount spread upon every user, whether you’re a commercial user or a residential user.”
Trustee Jon Espersen said debating Lynden’s proposal was irrelevant, as it was already defeated.
“Here’s the issue that I’m looking at,” Espersen said. “I think it’s a little premature to talk about raising rates, when there’s going to come a time in the very near future, we’re going to have to make a major decision about where we’re getting our water from.”
The village has engineering reports on its water system in the works, and Espersen advocated waiting for the reports before deciding on rate hikes. He added that the reports could influence future decisions on Fredonia’s water source, hinting that it might lead to collaboration with the North County Water District.
“That’s going to be way down the road. We need to do something now,” Bird said. He said there should at least be a public hearing on his proposal, with Espersen agreeing.
“If we could possibly manage our expenses through other avenues, we should definitely look at that, before we move forward with your proposal,” Lynden said to Bird. He said the lack of hike raises in previous years was due to a good fund balance, but recent water treatment plant work ate up some of that.
With Lynden objecting, the other trustees agreed Bird’s proposal should go to the public for a hearing. Clerk Annemarie Johnston said she would put a resolution calling for the hearing on the trustees’ Oct. 31 agenda.
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October 19, 2022 at 01:27PM
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