District trustees are trying to upgrade the water system that was installed about 1947.
JAY – North Jay water customers are facing more than a 33 percent rate hike for water next year. The proposal also calls for the town’s rental fee for fire hydrants to rise 36.9 percent.
“We haven’t had a rate hike since 1995,” North Jay Water District Superintendent Richard Jackson said.
A hearing on the proposed increases is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, at the District Office at 15 Mount View, off Old Jay Road.
The rate hike is needed, Jackson said, to cover rising operating costs, labor costs, procedural changes in mandated water testing and continued upgrading of the system.
Additionally, depreciation charges on replacement mains, a building addition, as well as debt incurred to complete the needed system upgrades, and to replace a vehicle, have substantially affected the district’s operating costs, Jackson said.
District trustees are trying to upgrade the water system that was installed about 1947. It serves 240 customers and buys its water from Wilton Water Department.
The district replaced 2,600 feet of water line this summer on Old Jay Road, Jackson said, and plans to “hopefully” finish that line, which is about 3,000 more feet, next season.
Trustees also want to finish replacing all hydrants that are obsolete, he said. They would like to replace five more hydrants, he said, that they have trouble getting parts for.
The base water rate for the first 1,000 cubic feet of water, or about 7,500 gallons, each quarter is proposed at $60. It would be a 33.4 percent increase from the current $46.
A customer just using the base amount could see their bill go from about $184 to $240 a year.
After the first 1,000 cubic feet, the next 4,000 cubic feet would be an additional $3.45 per 100 cubic feet each quarter. It decreases to $2.22 per 100 cubic feet a quarter for the next 25,000 cubic feet and declines again to $1.25 for more than 30,000 cubic feet of water used a quarter.
The 33.4 percent increase is estimated to bring in an additional $17,879 a year.
If approved, the new rates would go into effect Jan. 1, 2004.
The proposed 33.7 percent rate increase for commercial customers would translate into additional revenue of $4,305 a year.
Fire protection services rates for 46 public fire hydrants owned and maintained by the district and rented to the town, are proposed to be $12,772 each quarter or $51,088 a year.
Those figures reflect a 36.9 percent increase for a projected $13,769 in additional revenue for a year.
Private fire protection would rise 33.3 percent and is expected to bring in $7,301 in additional revenue.
The Water District encompasses an area from the Wilton line to near Ranor Inc. to the Old Jay Road and as far as Woodman Hill Road, and it goes to the old Bass Building on Route 17, Jackson said.
A copy of the information on the proposed increases is available at the Town Office and Water District Office.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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