Sewer rates may soon be going up for Plymouth residents. During Monday’s Board of Works meeting, John Julien with accounting firm Umbaugh and Associates presented a 23-page financial analysis of the city’s Wastewater Department.
He recommended that to fund upgrades to the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, while continuing to cover day-to-day operations and existing debt payments, the city should raise sewer rates by just over 17 percent. “The current average residential customer would see their $21-a-month bill go up to around just under $25 a month,” he said. “That’s our recommendation to fund the project, eliminate the gap that exists with your current rates, be able to accomplish what you’ve identified as the priorities of the Sewage Works, and keep the Sewage Works in solid financial shape going forward.”
Julien pointed out that Plymouth’s sewer rate is currently among the lowest of local communities or those of a similar size, and the city’s ranking on that list isn’t expected to change, even after the rate increase.
Moving forward, the increase must first be considered by the board of works before moving on to the Common Council, where public hearings will be held to gain residents’ input. Should the measure move ahead according to plan, it could receive final approval in the coming months.
Julien says that would give the city the funding source it needs to handle the estimated $850,000 a year in additional debt payments it will need to make, once it issues bonds for the Wastewater Treatment Plant improvement project, “All said and done, we need rates and charges to generate $3,563,000, if we want to have a good financial package for the continued operations of the Sewage Works. Right now, with your customers paying current rates, rates that were adopted back in 2010, we can count on revenues coming in at just under $3.1 million, so we’ve got a gap, about $495,000 that needs to be addressed.”
With that funding arranged, the city would then be able to move ahead with construction at the plant in June. If the rate increases are approved as recommended, they would likely take effect by the end of the summer.
