Berne sewer measure is publicly released
The text of the first sewer rate increase ordinance in Berne in 10 years has been made public by city officials, with a 25% hike in rates planned, starting in May.
The city council introduced the ordinance at its March 11 meeting and will vote on it again after a public hearing at its March 25 meeting in City Hall.
The ordinance says the council “finds that the current rates and charges for the use of and service rendered by the sewage works do not produce sufficient revenues to pay all the legal and necessary expenses [for] the operation of such sewage works, including legal expenses, maintenance costs, operating charges, repairs, lease rentals, and interest charges on bonds or other obligations of the sewage works and to provide adequate funds to be used as working capital, for making extensions and replacements, and to make payments in lieu of taxes.”
The ordinance further states:
“sewage rates and charges shall be based on the quantity of water used on or in the property or premises subject to the rates and charges as . . . measured by the water meter in use, plus a base charge based on the size of the water meter installed.”
For the first 2,000 gallons per month, the user charge would be $6.58 and, for more than 2,000 gallons, the charge would be $11.31.
The water meter rates covers nine sizes from five-eighths of an inch in diameter to six inches in diameter and those monthly amounts range from $15.81 to $819.56.
The measure also affects Monroe because that town’s sewage is also treated at the Berne plant. The monthly rate per 1,000 gallons is $1.48. There is also a debt service charge to be paid by Monroe of $5,121.
Rural residents in Linn Grove and an area between Linn Grove and Berne who are served by the Adams County Regional Sewer District will also be affected, since that sewage flows to the Berne treatment plant. That monthly rate will be the same as Monroe’s: $1.48 per 1,000 gallons.
The ordinance goes on to say, “For residential users of the sewage works that are unmetered water users, or if accurate meter readings are not available, the monthly charge shall be determined by equivalent single-family dwelling units. The monthly rate would be $73.19.
Another section of the proposed ordinance declares: “In order that the rates and charges may be justly and equitably adjusted to the service rendered to users, the city shall base its charges not only on the volume, but also on the strength and character of the stronger-than-normal domestic sewage and wastes which it is required to treat and dispose of. The city shall require the user to determine the strength and content of all sewage and wastes discharged, either directly to indirectly, into the sanitary sewage system in the manner, by the method, and at times as the city may deem practicable in light of the conditions and attending circumstances.”