City staff members say an increase in Statesboro’s water and sewer bills is needed for the replacement and repair of failing and porous pipes, especially in the sewer system.

During a budget hearing Tuesday morning, interim City Manager Robert Cheshire proposed the fees, and other staff members took part in discussion with City Council members. But the budget and fee schedule won’t be presented to the council for a vote before the June 21 meeting.

Cheshire’s proposal would increase the monthly base charges paid by residential and commercial water and sewer customers. These rates would increase more for customers outside the city limits than for those inside.

“All inside residential and commercial classifications would increase by $2 per meter account, … all outside commercial classifications would increase by $3 per meter account, and all outside residential would increase by $4 per meter account,” Cheshire explained.

Usage rates, measured in thousands of gallons, wouldn’t change, and no industrial or governmental accounts would be affected.

The current in-town residential base rates are $6.50 for water and $6.50 for sewer. So, with a $2 “per meter” increase, the combined base charge would rise from $13 to $15 per month for every in-town residence.

The combined base charge for in-town commercial customers is already $15, so it would rise to $17.

For out-of-town residential customers, the base rates are double those from in-town customers, and so would increase from $26 a month to $30 a month. For out-of-town commercial customers, the combined base charge would increase from $22.50 to $25.50.

Infiltration trouble

The city spends a portion of the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax on water and sewer projects. But SPLOST revenue has been falling about 10 percent short of predictions, and Water and Wastewater Director Van Collins said most of the SPLOST money has been going to expansion projects.

Meanwhile, the biggest problem with the city’s existing pipes, according to Collins, is storm water leaking into the sanitary-sewer system. This infiltration increases the load on Statesboro’s wastewater treatment plant, which has a state permit to handle 10 million gallons per day on average and 20 million gallons at peak flow.

Recent heavy rain gave him an example. At 8 a.m. Monday, flow at the treatment plant was 5.8 million gallons per day. By 10 p.m., the flow had increased to 15.5 million gallons. Then the measuring device malfunctioned and shut the pumps down, requiring them to be restarted by hand, Collins said.

If the meter had not failed, it probably would have shown the flow increasing beyond 15.5 million gallons per day, he said.

“We can’t handle 12 to 15 for any extended period of time,” Collins said.

Without the infiltration, the city’s daily sewage output would be 3.4 million to 4.2 million gallons, he said.

For fiscal year 2017, Collins and Cheshire have earmarked $1.5 million from the water and sewer department’s operating revenue for capital improvements. Of this, $950,000 will go to rehabilitate sewer lines in two or three subdivisions, Collins said.

The problem is worst at Edgewood Acres, where when the ground is saturated, storm water pours into three lateral sewer lines, he said.

Most of the remaining $550,000 would replace water meters, upgrade sewer pumping stations, and replace filter fabric at the sewage plant, Collins said.

The department also expects to spend $1.2 million from operating cash on capital needs the following year, and $500,000 the third year, Cheshire told the council.

“If we’re going to be eating into operational dollars, we feel like we need to replenish that and be ready to take out a loan potentially if we find other means,” he said.

The base-rate increase is expected to deliver about $330,000 this year, Cheshire said. The rest of the $1.5 million would come from the existing charges.

Councilman Phil Boyum asked what became of revenue from bills paid by new customers coming onto water and sewer lines built with SPLOST money.

“Wasn’t that the goal?” Boyum asked. “We used SPLOST money to put pipes in the ground, and then you have people attach to those pipes and then pay into the operating fund. So yes, we don’t have the SPLOST money, but from 2014 to 2015, revenues went up by over a million dollars.”

Expansion vs.  upkeep

But in recent years the city has invested more on expanding its system than on replacing aging pipes, according to numbers Collins presented.

From 2000 through 2010, the city spent $12.9 million on extensions into unserved areas. During that decade, about $6.9 million was spent on pipeline rehabilitation, and flows into the treatment plant decreased, he said.

From 2011 into 2016, about $16.1 million went for expansion. Of that, the county provided $6 million toward the $10 million extension of water and sewer to the I-16 industrial park and surrounding area. But with Statesboro covering $4 million of that project, plus extensions along S&S Railroad Bed Road and in the area of Old Register Road, Langston Chapel Road and Lanier Drive, the city’s spending on water utility expansion topped $10 million in six years.

A commitment of $500,000 annually to pipeline rehab for five to 10 years would eliminate most of the problems, Collins said.

Mayor Jan Moore called for detailed projections but expressed support for the increase.

“I am for the $2, I will just say, because I think it’s going to take that, and I think it’s going to take usage fees, it’s going to take a lot more than anybody is willing to admit that we need, and I don’t think a $2 base rate increase, the first one since 2010, is being unreasonable,” she said.

Boyum said he understands the arguments for an increase of some kind.

“But 85 percent of that rate increase goes on the residents, not commercial, not the government,” he said. “Whenever you look at the sheer numbers of accounts, the residential account number dwarfs all the rest.”

One reason for proposing a base rate increase is that it’s simpler than changing usage charges, Cheshire said. Collins said there were also concerns about the effect of usage rates on high-volume commercial customers.

Former council member Will Britt, who left office at the end of 2015, spoke as a citizen during the hearing. Noting that the council approved a new storm water fee last year, he asked the council to keep the water and sewer fees unchanged.

“Even though it wasn’t really water – it was storm water – it wasn’t a separate bill, so your water bill did go up,” Britt said.

Herald reporter Al Hackle may be reached at (912) 489-9458.