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Public hearing set on 9% sewer rate hike
(by Sue Reid - October 13, 2011)
Public hearing set on 9% sewer rate hike
By SUE REID
A 9 percent sewer rate increase for 2012 will be set for public hearing in Solon next month.
Solon City Council's public works committee approved the motion last week to set the hearing, which will take place at its next meeting 6 p.m. Nov. 2.
Councilman Robert N. Pelunis, chairman of the committee, said he takes the increase proposed "very seriously."
Sewer rates increased 9 percent last year, and, before that, a rate schedule was set in 2006 calling for a 6 percent increase annually for four years. The city has had to increase rates every year. The only year it did not was in the late 1990s.
"Residents are concerned," Mr. Pelunis said. "Everyone's expenses have gone up with their house," including property taxes due to the school levy.
Many are on a fixed income, he said, and this rate increase affects them.
"We need to be cognizant of that," Mr. Pelunis said, "and take a serious look at this issue."
Despite continual rate increases each year and a possible increase for next, the sewage treatment plant still faces a deficit of more than $200,000, plant director Paul Solanics noted.
He said his department has done everything possible to reduce costs, bringing expenditures down by 9 percent. Staff was reduced, truck driving outsourced and some early retirements helped offset some cost, Mr. Solanics said.
"Despite those efforts, we're still having problems covering our expenditures," Mr. Solanics said. "My projection for this year is that we are able to cover our expenditures by a very narrow margin.
"I don't know what more we can do," Mr. Solanics said. All of the plant's customers -- residential, commercial and industrial -- are using less water, which has a huge impact, he said.
"People are reducing their usages of all utilities, and water is a big one right now," Mr. Solanics added. "Our sewer rates are based on water usage, and we're seeing a reduction of revenue we are bringing in."
Mr. Solanics said he favors a 12 percent increase but would make the 9 percent work. If there were no increase for 2012, the plant would have a deficit of more than $600,000, he said.
Mr. Solanics said the 9 percent is the "bare minimum" to get by. The city has begun his own sewer billing, which will be an area that may produce a little more revenue as far as collections, he said, but that still has to be investigated.
"Less flow is a real problem,," Councilman William D. Mooney said. "I'm not sure it's a solvable one" unless we have other people using our plant. He said he is in favor of the increase for just one year.
Mr. Solanics said that the costs to do business in general "have skyrocketed over the last couple of years." The plant on Cochran Road costs about $6 million annually to operate.
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