Ceylon residents object to putting meters on wells (03/01/06)

GENEVA — The community of Ceylon boasts a current population of 58. More than half of those residents, about 30, showed up for a public meeting Tuesday night in Geneva to express their concern about some changes the town wants to put into place concerning billing for sewage treatment.

The Geneva Town Council held a public hearing to offer residents a chance to express their opinions about a proposed water and sewage usage rate increase that was to go into effect with April bills.

However, with the concerns expressed Tuesday night, the council delayed the final acceptance of the ordinance until its April 3 meeting.

The proposed ordinance, which council passed on the second reading Tuesday night, includes installing water meters on connections for residents who live outside the town’s corporate limits.

The decision is an attempt to better track how much water goes into the town’s sewage system from those outlying homes.

That would include all of Ceylon’s 26 households.

Since sewage service was extended to Ceylon in 1984, residents there have paid a flat monthly fee of $23.03.

Speaking for the group Tuesday night, attorney David A. Feeback, Bluffton, addressed the council about the residents’ concerns which centered around privacy, he said.

“I was approached a couple of weeks ago about putting meters on private wells,” he said. “People in Ceylon don’t receive your water, but are hooked into your sewer system. You have a (charge) system that has worked for years, and now you’re going to change it. What is going on right now is fine.

“It’s less with equality than with privacy,” he continued. “We feel you’re going outside the boundary to do this and you’re pushing the edge of the envelope in terms of authority. They object to having their wells metered.”

He said it was hoped that a compromise could be found that would meet the town’s needs as well as those of the Ceylon residents.

Scott Houser, CPA with Summers, Carroll, Whisler, Muncie, who developed the proposed increases, fielded questions about alternative plans, and explained metered wells would allow the town to better monitor the flow of water into the town’s sewer system.

“If it’s surface water getting into the lift station, that could account for extra water,” he said. “We have to harness how much water is coming from that area.”

An alternative plan would place a master meter at the lift station that would measure all households, and the sewage treatment costs would be divided equally among those households, Houser explained.

Installation of a meter on a private well will cost the homeowner $100, town administrator, Steve Hampshire said. Cost for a master meter would be $2,500 and residents would be equally charged until it was paid, he added.

“This (installing the meters) was addressed by me, personally,” Houser said. “Since IDEM (Indiana Department of Environmental Management) is really cracking down, we just felt it was a fair way to assess rates.”

After discussing ways residents could be assessed that would meet everyone’s needs, the council agreed to postpone the final reading of the ordinance to allow exploration of some additional options.

“We respect your decision,” Feeback told the council. “We’re at your mercy.”

Following the council’s decision to delay the final approval, most of those in attendance left the meeting, with only a half dozen residents staying for the remainder.

There were no objections to the proposed rate increases, nor the addition of a storm water utility fee.

With the increases and the addition of the storm water utility charge, the average user’s bill will increase by nearly $10 to $54.88 from the current $45, town officials have estimated.[[In-content Ad]]