By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Wastewater is not exactly viewed as a prized commodity, like water or electricity. But Bowling Green officials learned Monday evening that they aren’t charging enough for their wastewater services.
“Wastewater is kind of a weird animal,” Bowling Green Public Utilities Director Brian O’Connell said Monday afternoon. Unlike water and electric, for which customers are charged more when the city delivers more – with wastewater the city charges for taking away a used product. “There’s little ability to grow sales.”
The city recently hired a consultant to look at the current wastewater rate structure, and look at the expenses to operate the city’s wastewater plant. The study found that the city is undercharging its customers.
“We not currently collecting enough to fund the utility,” O’Connell said.
The results of the study were presented to the city’s board of public utilities, with recommendations that revenues need to increase by about 21 percent in order to meet the projected 2020 revenue requirements.
“We need to have a rate adjustment,” O’Connell said. The rate hikes will be spread out over four years, with 5 or 6 percent increases each year.
The wastewater study also noted that the city’s residential and industrial customers are currently subsidizing the commercial and wholesale customers. Consequently, the commercial and wholesale customers will see larger increases than the residential and industrial users.
“You don’t want those numbers to get too far out of whack,” O’Connell explained.
As is typical, the board of public utilities will be given some time to digest the wastewater report before voting on any rate increase plan. O’Connell expects the board to make a decision at its Oct. 10 meeting.
“It gives the board time to think about it,” he said.
O’Connell sees the proposed rate increases as reasonable, especially since they will be spread out over a period of four years.
“They can plan for it. It’s a more moderate increase for them,” he said.
The study listed typical wastewater bills for each type of customer in Bowling Green. The average monthly residential bill is currently $17.30. Over the next four years, the proposed rate increase would bump the average monthly residential bill to $18.21 in 2017, $19.12 in 2018, $20.03 in 2019, and finally $21 in 2020.
The report also compared wastewater bills in Bowling Green to those in other municipalities in the region. Those monthly residential averages were $65.29 in Napoleon, $34.08 in Perrysburg, $30.94 in Fremont, and $26.41 in Findlay.
The average commercial bill for wastewater in Bowling Green right now is $89.75. The proposed rate increases would hike those another $4.31 per month each year until 2020 when they will reach $107 a month. That compares to commercial monthly rates of $206.69 in Napoleon, $204.46 in Perrysburg, $162.44 in Fremont, and $97.36 in Findlay.
The average monthly industrial bill in Bowling Green is currently $757.55. The proposed increases would bump those up by $30.11 per month each year until 2020 when they will hit $878 a month. Other area communities charge industrial monthly rates of $2,044.51 in Perrysburg, $1,718.69 in Napoleon, $1,359.18 in Fremont, and $676.74 in Findlay.
