ELLSWORTH, Maine — Starting on April 1, users of the city’s wastewater treatment system are expected to see their rates increase by 43 percent.
Citing the cost of running the city’s new $21 million wastewater treatment plant, and the strain that the plant’s expenses are having on the city’s cash flow, the City Council voted Monday to approve the rate hike.
With the increase, the current rate of $5.61 per 100 cubic feet will rise to $8.03 per 100 cubic feet, for a difference of $2.42.
For a minimum-end user who generates 300 cubic feet of sewage a month, the increase means they will pay $7.26 more each month, or about $87 more each year, according to city officials. For a typical residential user that generates 425 cubic feet each month, their rate increase will amount to $13.71 more each month or $164.56 more each year.
Commercial or industrial users that generate 800 or 900 cubic feet each month should see their rates increase by roughly $27 per month or $320 for the year. Large-scale users who generate around 7,500 cubic feet of sewage each month would see annual rate increases close to $3,000.
According to city officials, the wastewater department is meant to be self-sufficient, with user fees and other sources of revenue, such as septage fees charged to private waste haulers, covering the facility’s operating costs.
That has not been the case for the past 10 years, however, for a variety of reasons. Initially, until the new treatment plant was built off Bayside Road in 2012, it was because of substandard operations and equipment at the city’s former plant on Water Street. Since then, it is because of fixed costs such as the debt on the new facility and because there have been fewer new users brought online than city officials had anticipated.
“The last rate increase was five years ago,” Deputy City Manager Tammy Mote wrote in a memo sent last month to the city council. “Annual rate increases were held off as the city was expecting increased development which would result in greater wastewater volume in order to help cover these [revenue] shortages. Although there has been an increase in development [in Ellsworth], it did not occur at the growth rate that was expected.”
Mote said in the memo that Ellsworth’s wastewater system has approximately 1,500 users. The rate of $8.03 per 100 cubic feet is not out of line with other service center municipalities in Maine, she added, even though many of the other cities or towns have two or three times as many wastewater customers.
Councilor Gary Fortier said Monday that, with the 43 percent rate increase, the city should be diligent about budgeting sewage expenses for city-owned facilities.
From here on out, Fortier said, sewage costs should be built into the operations budget for each city-owned building, including schools and City Hall.
Other city councilors agreed that, as unappealing as the rate increase may be, it is necessary to alleviate the drain the wastewater system is having on the city’s bank accounts.
“We have to bite the bullet and pay the piper,” Councilor Marc Blanchette said.
