By KEVIN NEVERS

The president of the Chesterton Utility Service Board believes that a sanitary sewer rate hike—another one—is in the offing.

“I think the (biennial) rate study is going to indicate we’re heading for another sizable rate increase,” Brandt predicted at Monday’s meeting of the Service Board. “The cost of waste treatment has risen faster than our ability to pay for it.”

Brandt did not say how much of an increase he is expecting, nor when it would take effect, later this year, say, or on Jan. 1, 2009. In fact he really couldn’t say yet, as the biennial rate study required under Town Code and scheduled for this year has not yet been conducted. But Superintendent Steve Yagelski told members that H.J. Umbaugh & Associates, the Utility’s usual rate consultant, is currently preparing a contract which should be ready for review at their next meeting, Feb. 19.

The last sanitary sewer rate hike was a two-phase one, beginning with a 5.8-percent increase in 2005, followed by a 5-percent increase in 2006. For a residential customer with a 5/8’’ to 3/4’’ meter, that hike raised the base rate–the minimum charge paid just for having sanitary sewer service–from $12.95 to $13.70 in 2005 and then to $14.40 in 2006. And it raised the treatment rate per 100 cubic feet from $2.35 to $2.49 in 2005 and then to $2.62 in 2005.

Brass tacks: the average residential customer with a usage of 1,334 cubic feet saw his or her bimonthly bill increase from $44.30 to $46.91 in the first year; and to $49.35 in the second.

The last sanitary sewer hike before the two-phase one of 2005-06 was in 1992, when the Town Council enacted a 21.5 percent one on the Service Board’s recommendation.

Brandt made his prediction after Yagelski and Town Engineer Mark O’Dell submitted a list of projects and expenditures, for some of which the Utility may request funding this year. The total estimated cost of those projects and expenditures: $3.67 million.

O’Dell made it clear that some of the items on the list are not high priority, at least not at the moment. Thus, he said, an interceptor project with a price tag of $1.45 million could be safely removed from the list and scheduled for implementation over the next five to 10 years.

Other items are more pressing in the short term, however: the long-discussed (and for this year, at least, once again postponed) Downtown replacement and separation project, at $300,000; the relocation of a force main from beneath the bridge over Coffee Creek on Indian Boundary Road, at $50,000; and new supports and bridge for the sanitary sewer line in the Morningside subdivision, at $75,000.

Member John Schnadenberg made one thing clear. He does not want to see the entire $3.67 million list as submitted by Yagelski and O’Dell made part of Umbaugh’s rate study this year.”Our rates would double,” he said.

Yagelski and O’Dell, accordingly, said that they would refine the list’s priorities and re-submit it at the Service Board’s next meeting.

Yagelski also noted that while some of the projects and expenditures could be pursued on a pay-as-you-go basis, others could be financed, possibly through another State Revolving Fund loan—which the Utility used to finance the wastewater treatment plant expansion—or otherwise through a bond issue with the Town Council’s approval.

In other words, stay tuned.

In any case, for Brandt a rate hike appears almost to be inevitable. “If we want to maintain our level of excellence, we’re going to have to invest in the Utility,” he said. “Or we’re going to slide backward. And that’s not acceptable.”

2007 in Review

In other business, the Service Board took receipt of the 2007 annual report, which shows among other things that the Utility actually finished the year—surprisingly—in the black, with a total surplus of $41,558. The Utility had forecast a break-even year, and in fact it would have ended 2007 rather significantly in the red had not the Town of Porter purchased an additional 42,000 gallons per day (gpd) capacity at the wastewater treatment plant for $197,400. In several operating categories, for instance, the Utility was badly over budget: $93,468 in pensions and benefits; $105,767 in materials and supplies; $30,835 in transportation; $15,705 in purchased power; $13,039 in employees; and $10,218 in sludge removal.

Still, the Utility recorded at the same time total operating revenues of $2,589,964, or $441,453 more than projected, thanks to better than anticipated performances in a number of categories: tap-on fees, public authorities, and miscellaneous income.

Meanwhile, in a very wet year—with a total precipitation of 43.33 inches—the Utility was forced to bypass a total of 986,500 gallons: 187,000 gallons in April, with 4.83 inches of precipitation; 757,500 gallons in July, with 7.19 inches; and 42,000 gallons in August, with 9.01 inches.

In 2007 Chesterton used 53.90 percent of its 3,794,000 gpd allotment at the wastewater treatment plant; Porter, 69.64 of its 725,000 gpd allotment; the Indian Boundary Conservancy District, 75.76 percent of its 81,000 gpd allotment; and the plant as a whole, 56.82 percent of its capacity.

February Meeting Re-scheduled

Members voted 4-0 to re-schedule their next monthly meeting from 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 18, to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19. That Monday is a federal holiday, Presidents Day. Member Andy Michel was not in attendance.

Officers Elected

Members voted 4-0 to re-elect Brandt to the presidency, then 4-0 to elect Jim Raffin to the vice-presidency.

Donations

The Service Board expressed its gratitude to Greg Veselica of Aardvark Trade and Mark Hopkins of Hopkins Ace Hardware for their donation of office equipment and furniture to the Utility. Yagelski estimated that Veselica’s donated at least $72,000 worth of “highly valuable and prized” gear and that Hopkins donated at least $3,500 worth.

Posted 1/22/2008