JAY — Selectmen voted Monday to increase the sewer rate for any water use over the minimum 3,200 cubic feet to 6 cents per cubic foot for 2012-13.

The board kept the minimum base rate at $250 for 3,200 cubic feet of water used per year. Currently, use above the minimum 3,200 cubic feet of water use is 5.58 cents.

The increase is estimated to bring in $376,000 and pay about 70 percent of the operation and maintenance budget of the Sewer Department, Superintendent Mark Holt said.

Selectmen did not extend a one-year sewer-fee cap. That cap expires June 30 and means customers would not have to pay more than double their previous year’s sewer bill.

Selectmen changed the way sewer rates were calculated in 2011, moving from a per unit fee to a one based on the amount of water used.

Some users had their sewer fees go up, some went down others stayed within $50 of the rate using the previous calculation method, Holt told selectmen prior to the vote.

Some people had their sewer fees more than double, he said. But selectmen had established the one-year cap so users were not charged more than double their previous year’s sewer bill.

Holt estimated roughly that 25 sewer users had the sewer fees doubled. The customers were residential with large families, he said.

Those that had their fees more than double were related to water leaks and letting water run during the winter to keep the pipes from freezing, he said.

“We’ve done a lot of work to get to this point,” Holt said.

The thought when the rate system was changed last year, he said, was to gradually increase the sewer user fees to eventually have them cover the operation and maintenance budget.

The operation and maintenance cost for this year is about $539,000 and the sewer fees generated about $364,000, which covered approximately 68 percent of the operation and maintenance budget, Holt said.

The debt service incurred by the Sewer Department is paid through townwide taxation.

The minimum use fee of $250 worked fairly well, Holt said, as did the minimum quantity of 3,200 cubic feet.

Resident Jody Therrien, who owns a multi-bay car wash, asked if there was any way to reduce costs, including sharing management and costs with Livermore Falls to reduce the overall sewer budget.

Jay and Livermore Falls share the use and cost of Livermore Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant, plus Jay has its own treatment plant in North Jay.

Any raise is not going to be good, Therrien said.

He asked if the town had searched everywhere to save money.

“I’m just not convinced we have,” Therrien said.

Holt said with the Route 4 construction in 2011 and 2012, where sewer lines are being replaced as road work is done, the cost of the sewer system is not going to get any better.

Town Manager Ruth Cushman said the town has looked into sharing costs with Livermore Falls.

“It is very expensive to operate two plants,” Therrien said.

Eventually sewer users will all be paying 100 percent, he said.

Jay is one of the few towns that doesn’t have its users pay all of the costs, Holt said.

When they looked at pumping sewage to the Livermore Falls plant from North Jay, it was going to be more expensive than to keep the North Jay plant, he said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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