NORTH WEBSTER – The Lakeland Regional Sewer District board adopted a monthly rate Thursday that falls just inside the range it estimated six years ago. The average household will pay $69.95 a month under the rate ordinance passed following a packed public hearing. The board originally estimated a charge of $65 to $70, back when the expected cost of the project was $23 to $24 million, according to Jeff Rowe with Umbaugh and Associates, which drafted the rate ordinance. Costs increased to $28.7 million once construction bids came in last year. This would have brought the fee up to $90 a month were it not for the USDA’s recent decision to provide $8.6 million of its project funding in the form of a grant, Rowe said. The district will repay the remaining loan amount over a term of 40 years. Loan payments, as well as administrative and operating costs and the funding of a reserve account, all figured into the monthly rate, divided among the close to 2,000 equivalent dwelling units in the system, Rowe said. The rate will take effect once construction is completed, which is estimated for December 2016. Users will pay $11.20 a month during construction. The board expects to sign interim financing documents Wednesday and construction contracts Thursday. The contracts will include a notice to proceed dated for the first week of July. The rate ordinance also covers one-time fees such as $90 for inspection of plumbing or electrical installation, and the fees for different types of users. A year-round flat fee will be charged to users such as campgrounds, said John Gastineau, an attorney with Carson Boxberger. Stew Lambert, owner of Pine Bay Resort, expressed dismay over the flat fee and requested a metered rate instead. He said it would cost $3,220 a month for his 46-spot campground, which by law can only be open half the year, if each spot were charged the full monthly rate. “My people can’t afford that,” he said. Also Thursday, the board approved the district use ordinance, which spells out to staff and customers how the system will operate as well as covering violations and penalties. Board members indicated that after construction starts they can begin addressing several outstanding issues and unanswered questions, such as what to do about the 60 or so properties that no easements were ever signed for. Some of those have new owners interested in joining the system, while other lots, vacant during planning, now have owners who want to hook in. The challenge, board President Jim Haney remarked, is finding the money to include them, since those properties were not included in system plans or funding. Also to be determined are the specifications property owners will have to follow when providing power to the grinder pumps, such as the voltage to be used. The board will start looking at some of these issues at next month’s meeting.
