MONTGOMERY OKS WATER RATE INCREASE
14% increase next year part of plan to pay for maintenance, more.
Montgomery County Commissioners this week approved a plan that will raise water and sewer rates for county customers 14 percent in 2018 and another 5.6 percent each year after through 2022.
County officials said the rate increase is needed because deteriorating infrastructure has resulted in ballooning costs for maintenance while costs for new construction continue to rise with little available state or federal funding.
“It may appear to be a relatively large increase,” County Administrator Joe Tuss previously said. “But when you look at where we’ve been from a historic standpoint, it’s about catching up and generating the revenue we need to invest.”
The average Montgomery County residential customer, now paying about $170, will see quarterly bills rise about $24 next year.
While Montgomery County purchases water pumped by the city of Dayton, the county maintains a distribution system of 1,400 miles of water mains that provide drinking water and fire prevention for about 250,000 residents. The system also has 1,200 miles of sewer line and two wastewater plants.
The cost of purchasing water is also going up, rising $2 million, or 10.5 percent in 2018, Tuss said during a budget presentation.
“We spend just over $20 million buying water from the city of Dayton, approximately half our budget on the water side is purchasing water,” he said.
A larger portion of a customer’s bill will be the fixed charge, going from 20 percent to 40 percent, while consumption charges move from 80 percent to 60 percent. The increased fixed charge will provide more stable, long-term financing needed to upgrade and maintain the system the county values at $3.1 billion, said Pat Turnbull, the county’s Environmental Services director.
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The commission vote to raise rates came after the county’s Environmental Services delivered 11 presentations in municipalities affected by the increase, including in Kettering, which has about 8,200 of the system’s more than 80,000 residential and business customers.
Turnbull told Kettering residents and city council that the county is routinely experiencing 300 or more water main breaks a year — spending about $2 million annually to fix — on the system primarily installed 60 to 70 years ago.
“The water mains are breaking more frequently. The sewer lines are cracking more frequently,” he said. “We are just reaching that point — similar to the roof on your house — when you’re having to patch leaks all the time, you get to a place where it’s time to put a new roof on.”
Tom Wittmann, 80, of Kettering watched the presentation and said county officials made a measured appeal for the rate increase.
“Nobody wants to spend money, but you get what you pay for,” Wittman said. “We’re not Flint, Mich . ... We get good quality water.”