Groton City approves new method of billing sewer use

Groton — City Councilors voted unanimously Monday night to approve a $4.9 million sewer budget for the coming fiscal year, the final step in switching the city to a feebased sewage system rather than a tax-based one.

The decision means that beginning July 1, funding of the Water Pollution Control Authority will be provided by charging Groton Utilities water users in the city a monthly sewer fee as part of their water bill.

That fee is $0.054 multiplied by the number of cubic feet of water used, plus a monthly service charge, according to a May 18 letter from Groton Utilities to account holders. The service charge will range from $9.40 per month for a meter size of fiveeighths of an inch to $1,081 per month for a meter size of 10 inches.

Mayor Keith Hedrick previously said that continuing to fund the

WPCA through taxes would have caused a 1.1-mill increase in the tax rate. The $16 million 2018-19 budget that city taxpayers approved last month is expected to decrease the tax rate by .64 of a mill – from 5.22 mills to 4.58 mills.

Although Monday night marked the culmination of the months-long effort to shift to the new funding method, many residents still attended the meeting to express their concerns about it.

Critics said it will hurt those with lower assessments on their homes, and also sought a commitment that revenue generated from the fees would exclusively apply to sewage.

“I’m opposed to the huge increase in the sewer budget from $1.7 million in last year’s budget under the city property tax system to $4.9 million budget under Groton Utilities,” said resident Mike Boucher at the meeting. “With this huge $4.9 million budget the effects are even more dramatic on poor and working families and I think you need to phase it in somehow.”

“Basically you’re taking a burden off the wealthy and placing it on the backs of the poor,” he said.

Meanwhile proponents of the making the shift, including Hedrick, have argued it creates a more equitable and fair system because users will be charged based on how much water they actually use, not on the value of their property.

“We’re really trying to make it as fair as possible to make sure everyone is paying their fair amount,” said councilor Jill Rusk, who offered her own family’s water consumption compared to her elderly neighbor who lives alone as a prime example. She said that it was unfair that her neighbor would have to pay the same amount as her family, despite her familiy using more water.

Councilors and the mayor also sought to address some of the other concerns expressed by residents. Hedrick gave a firm commitment that the money from the fees would be earmarked for sewage, and he also emphasized that the shift to a fee-based system will closely monitored in this first year.

He added that if a correction is needed, officials will make changes because they want to ensure the new system is doing what they hoped it would do.