Sewer rates higher than expected

Preliminary end-user rates for three sewer projects in the county were hashed out further Monday night for the Jay County Regional Sewer District as the monthly cost came out a bit higher than the engineer's preliminary estimates.

Dave Frederick of H.J. Umbaugh and Associates presented a preliminary rate study, showing monthly costs to be about $70.75 for new connections on three sewer projects - one southwest of Portland at Foxfire Drive, and two near Dunkirk (north at the Skeens Addition and south around Willow Drive).

Preliminary estimates calculated by Commonwealth Engineers put the cost at $59.78 per month.

The new numbers are assuming the county secures a 45 percent grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's rural development wing, which is looking very likely.

The balance of the funding for the project would come from a USDA loan.

"It's a basic 40-year loan at a rate of 3.75 percent," Frederick said. "Rural development ... provides a very good way to do (funding).

"Your chances are best as they've been in a long time to get grant money," he added.

"USDA rural development has money," said Ben Adams of Commonwealth. "The opportunity for them to dole out full-sized grants is, I think, pretty good."

"The probability of you getting your maximum grant is as good now as it's ever been," agreed Wayne Bailey from Commonwealth.

Although Commonwealth slightly overestimated debt service payments in its rate estimate, its operations and maintenance numbers were noticeably lower than in the Umbaugh report.

Aside from Umbaugh estimating annual maintenance at about $11,500 more than Commonwealth's numbers, the report also included a yearly collection of $4,300 that the district will hold for improvement or replacement of pumps or other infrastructure along the lines.

"You would be building up money, capital, to do that without the raising the rates," Frederick said.

Adams told board members and residents at the meeting that the numbers, while a bit more precise than his original estimates, are still "all subject to change," based on the amount of grant funding and final total cost of the project.

"It's as close as we can get it now," he said.

Drawings for the two Dunkirk additions have been completed, and Adams gave copies to Dunkirk wastewater superintendent and board member Tim Kesler, who will review the plans and add any input before the plans are finalized and sent to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for approval.

Dunkirk residents were on hand to follow the project's progress and continued to ask questions about the sewer installations.

Jay County High School principal Phil Ford, a resident in the Skeens area, wanted to know if rates could go down if additional users hooked up, and if rates would go up if people left or defaulted on their monthly payments.

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Adams said monthly rates may decrease if more users were added, but that rates would definitely increase if people dropped out, since the monthly debt repayment would need to be met.

The board also heard from Derek Rodgers, who again attempted to persuade the district to drop a stretch of connections on county road 300 South, one of which would include his home. Rodgers has argued it would not be cost effective to run several hundred feet of sewer line down the road to pick up only a handful of connections.

The plans currently include all the areas initially outlined in earlier meetings, although last minutes changes are a possibility.

A projected starting date for the installations is still up in the air, pending funding and IDEM approval of the plans. An original timeline showed the district receiving construction permits and taking bids by July, but delays have caused the project to miss those target dates.

Before closing, the board authorized Umbaugh to continue financial work for the sewer projects as the district works toward securing USDA grant funding.[[In-content Ad]]