Commissioners seek sewer solution

County commissioners are trying to craft an equitable way of bringing rate relief to Dunkirk area households served by Jay County Regional Sewer District.

Barry Hudson briefed fellow commissioners Mike Leonhard and Chuck Huffman Monday on his efforts to unearth documents and details on the sewer district dating back to 2005 and outlined what he hopes would be a workable solution going forward.

“We have to forget what’s gone on in the past,” said Hudson. “We have to set up a system for the future.”

The sewer district serves rural households southwest of Portland and the POET Biorefining ethanol plant. It also serves 39 households and Millers Merry Manor in rural Dunkirk.

Wastewater from the rural Portland sites is treated at that city’s sewage treatment plant, while the rural Dunkirk sites are served by Dunkirk’s sewage treatment plant.

The sewer lines connecting those areas to the adjacent cities were funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant of $498,000 and a U.S.D.A. Rural Development Bank bond issue of $609,400.

Hudson said the county has also kicked in funds over the years, including a $25,000 grant in 2005 and loans of $75,000, $127,500 and $25,000.

But from the beginning, the district has struggled financially. And rate payers — particularly those in the Dunkirk area — have been faced with what they consider to be crippling bills.

Meanwhile, there’s a balance of $560,000 to be paid off on the bond issue and the district isn’t generating enough revenue to pay its bills.

The most recent rate increase approved in February was appealed to Jay County Council in March, and council decided to delay the new rates for 90 days while a committee searched for a financial solution. That effort came up short at the end of July, and the issue was sent back to the commissioners for a recommendation.

“It’s back to us,” Hudson said Monday. “We need to come up with something that makes sense for the future.”

His proposal, which will be reviewed by the district’s board and will require approval by Jay County Council, calls for the bills of the Dunkirk customers to be subsidized by the county at the rate of $20 per month.

That would lower the rate from the current $88 per month figure, which is scheduled to go up to $101.85 on Jan. 1. (Customers in the Portland area currently pay $80.50, with increases scheduled to increase that amount to $92.90 by 2021.) In effect, the county’s subsidy would cover the bulk of the costs related to paying off the bond issue.

The proposal would only involve the Dunkirk area properties served by the Dunkirk treatment plant. Hudson said his rationale is that while the Portland area sewers were mandated by the state, those in the Dunkirk area were not.

The district’s paperwork and documentation are at times sketchy, said Hudson. Copies of agreements between the district and the two cities were not on file when he went looking for them.

The 19 households served by the district south of Dunkirk are on gravity-driven sewer lines. Millers and the 20 homes in the Skeens Addition are on a metered line. And readings from a flow meter on sewer service vary wildly.

For instance, usage was measured at more than 2.9 million gallons in 2017 but was measured at just 323,424 in 2016 for the same customers.

“The agreement says the City of Dunkirk will check the flow meter every year and have its electronics serviced on a regular basis,” said Hudson. “It has never been done.”

“There’s something wrong” with the meter readings, he said.