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Members Present: Richard Aries, Donald Antaya, Robert Dickinson, Carol Fletterick, Ed Havens, Jr. and William Vees
Members Absent: Vicki Paliulis
Alternates Present: Richard Siedman
Staff Present: C. Fred Shaw, Superintendent of Pollution Control
Ether A. Diaz, Recording Secretary
Michael G. Gantick, Director of Public Works
Public Participation: Mary Sullivan, 102 Wyndemere Court, South Windsor, CT
James Throwe, 1330 Main Street, South Windsor, CT
Don Gonsalves, 40 Bayberry Trail, South Windsor, CT
Charles Regulbuto, 59 Riverview Drive, South Windsor, CT
Alan Gold, 12 Riverview Drive, South Windsor, CT
Councillor Stephen Wagner, 181 Tumblebrook Drive, South Windsor, CT
Mayor Saud Anwar, 93 Rockledge Drive, South Windsor, CT
Chairman Richard Aries called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
1. Proposed Water Pollution Control Budget and proposed Sewer User Charges, Surcharges, Sewer Assessment Schedules, and Septic Disposal Fees for Fiscal Year 2014/2015. (See Exhibit A and Exhibit B).
Chairman Richard Aries stated that the public hearing is being held to present the proposed Water Pollution Control budget and to establish the proposed sewer user charge, surcharges, sewer assessment schedules, and septic disposal fees for fiscal year 2014/2015. Ms. Ether Diaz, Recording Secretary read the Legal Notice as it was published in the Journal Inquirer (Exhibit A).
Chairman Aries turned the public hearing over to Mr. Fred Shaw, to give a brief overview of the proposed budget for fiscal year 2014/2015. Mr. Fred Shaw explained that there are a couple of changes in the budget: the Authority is reallocating some administrative costs between Pollution Control and the Refuse and Recycling budget to more appropriately show the expenditure in the correct activity center. Also, they are requesting a new position in Pollution Control the cost of which will be shared with the Parks and Recreation Department in a share services effort to provide services at the Veterans Memorial Park swimming pool for the maintenance of the swimming pool equipments (pump and filtration equipment), as well as for the water chemistry. The net effect of these and some other changes represent an
increase in the operating budget for next fiscal year of 1½ %; the debt service will be reduced by 18%; and in terms of capital budgets and capital improvements there will be a 28% decrease as compared to the current fiscal year. There will be some increase in contributions to the operating reserve fund and the replacement funds totaling 67% as compared to the current fiscal year.
Chairman Richard Aries talked about the proposed sewer user charges and presented a summary of the various changes of the sewer user fees as indicated in a press release (see Exhibit C). With regards to the establishment of the proposed Sewer User Charge Abatement Program, Chairman Aries explained that the Authority will be seeking Town Council passing of an ordinance. Chairman Aries opened the public hearing for public participation at 7:15 p.m. The public participation was in the following order:
Resident Mary Sullivan of 102 Wyndemere Court, South Windsor, CT came before the Authority and explained that previously she has asked for consideration from the Authority to increase the user rates to the rental units. She explained that the new proposed sewer user charges does not take into consideration the rental units; however, the rental units at Watson Farms, Berry Patch and Gerber are paying an extraordinary small sewer user fee compared to her fee. They pay an average of $151 per year even with a slight increase as indicated in the proposed user charges, said Ms. Sullivan. She also, explained that she lives in a 14 unit condo complex which, of the 14 units, three units are owned by couples who spend half the year away; three other units are year-round resident and the other eight units are single
people like herself but yet paying $374 a year.
Chairman Richard Aries thanked Ms. Sullivan for her comments and explained that the Authority is not permitted to have any back and forth communication during the Public Hearing, however, he responded to Ms. Sullivan’s concerns and explained that after some discussion between the WPCA and the Task Force Committee regarding rental units, it was decided not to treat the rental units the same; rental units often involve residents with slightly less income than condominium owners.
Mr. James Throwe, resident of 1330 Main Street, South Windsor, CT came before the Authority and commented that the Authority did not pay enough attention to using the water usage as a basis for charging. He explained that he served seven years on the sewer commission and in those days “part of the cost was carried by the Town in their annual budget”. He said that the Town should be carrying the capital cost of the buildings, the equipment at the sewer plant and the pipes; “that’s the way it was done in the beginning and that’s the proper way of doing it.” Although, Mr. Throw, welcomed the $18 reduction in sewer charges, he thinks it should be more and that the sewer usage charge should be based on water usage “which will even out the costs to many of these people,” said Mr. Throwe. He also
stated that “it does become a little complicated but it can be managed in today’s day with the amount of electronic equipment available.”
Mr. Don Gonsalves of 40 Bayberry Trail, South Windsor, CT came before the Authority and stated that he has been a member of the Task Force Committee for two-and-a half years. He totally disagreed with the following statement presented by Chairman Aries “Unfortunately, these options were found to be impractical, from a cost/benefit and implementation standpoint.” “This is absolutely not true”, Gonsalves said; and explained that the only fair method is to have the sewer user charges based on water usage which is what the town of Southington and Ellington are currently doing. He also disagreed with the 84,000 gallon baseline, and said it should be 69,000 gallons. “I’ve been arguing that point for two-and-a half years,” Gonsalves said. Mr. Gonsalves expressed that “the budget is not
complete to the public without the status of the reserves.” Therefore, he totally disagreed with the budget not knowing what the reserves are. He wanted more in-depth information about the reserves; how much it’s going to the reserves, what were the reserves at the beginning of the year, and what are the reserves going to be at. He expressed that financial statements from two years ago indicate that there was $2.5 million in reserves. “I, to this day, do not know, as a financial individual, where that $2.5 million went” and “I have proof of the $2.5 million given to me by people in the water pollution”, Gonsalves said.
Mr. Charles Regulbuto of 59 Riverview Drive, South Windsor, CT came before the Authority; “all of the taxes and assessments in town are based upon volume or usage”, said Regulbuto. He asked why a single person living alone in a small, two-bed room home should pay the same assessment as a family of four people or more living in a four-bedroom home. He expressed that the sewer user fees should be based upon capacity, number of bedrooms. “I think is time to stop discriminating against and penalizing seniors, with unfair and across-the-board taxes”, Regulbuto said and concluded by saying that “other towns have done, it’s time for South Windsor to do the same thing”, he said.
Mr. Alan Gold of 12 Riverview Drive, South Windsor, CT came before the Authority and said that he is the president of Podunk Ridge Condominium Association and also the president of the Central CT Adult Condominiums Association. “To be honest with you, I am very disappointed in the fact that this council has decided to go with the flat rate; it has been stated many times that is inequitable; your own paper says is inequitable”, said Mr. Gold. He also said that the implementation to bill based on usage should be easy and manageable with the computer systems available today and with the interaction between the water companies.
Ms. Mary Sullivan came once again before the Authority and expressed that she realizes it is a difficult job trying to establish a fair program; however, people who own their own residences and paying $374 sewer charge are discriminated against all the rentals in town. For instance, she said “Watson Farms with 72 units, last year paid $9,874 on the water bill - $137 per unit.” “Gerber with 88 units, paid $8700 - $98 per unit”; and “Berry Patch with 180 units pays $139 per unit.”
Councilor Stephen Wagner and member of the Task Force Committee came before the Authority. He expressed that the public hearing perceives issues of fairness; however, there are people who are receiving the flat rate charges as been unfairly burdensome. He explained that the Task Force Committee discussed the possibility of looking at water usage base rate structure and it was determined that it was fairly complicated; “it will require more time to work out the details in terms of how much it will cost to implement.” However, “there is really no reason why the sewer system shouldn’t be charging to some extend based on usage”, he said when “it’s been indicated that the usage of water is the best indicator we have of sewer usage.” He also explained that on the Task Force this year
discussions were made to determine fees structure. Councilor Wagner thanked the Authority for considering a shift in allocating the cost among residents versus businesses. He explained that in the current fees structure the average household is paying $6.25 per thousand gallons, however, the businesses are charged and paying $4.02 per thousand gallons which means that the houses are paying 55% more. In the proposed new structure the residents are still paying 36% more than the businesses based on water usage. The residents are going to pay $5.79 per thousand gallons and businesses will be paying$4.24 per thousand gallons. He explained that there were discussions on the different points of which to set these rates and by a majority vote it was recommended to the Authority to use 79,000 gallons baseline rather than 84,000 gallons. As a member of the Task Force Committee, Councilor Wagner recommended to the Authority to reconsider adopting the Task Force
Committee recommendation which is $351 per 79,000 gallons. He distributed a hand out showing some of the numbers where the impact might be (see Exhibit D). He explained that the impact varies greatly between groups. With the proposed structure, the single family homes and businesses using less than 84,000 gallons would see a 5% decrease in their sewer bill; however, businesses using more than 93,000 gallons will see a 5% increase. He explained that if the Authority adopts the Task Force proposal the larger businesses will see a 10% increase. He explained that the business condos are the one that are the most seriously affected because they are
averaging about $57 per unit. Councilor Wagner complimented members of the Authority on their efforts to make special considerations for the low income members of the community.
Mayor Saud Anwar of 93 Rockledge Drive, South Windsor, CT came before the Authority. He thanked members of the Authority and the Task Force Committee for their volunteer work. He explained that the Task Force Committee has been meeting in an attempt to figure out the solution for a fair sewer user charge. He respects that the WPCA is an independent municipal entity who has the capacity and the power to set up the sewer rates. However, he explained that during the Task Force Committee meeting, it has been determined that South Windsor “residents have been paying proportionally more per gallon as oppose to the businesses.” The proposed sewer user charges it’s a step in the right direction. The first phase is trying to bring some fairness between the businesses and the residents.
The next phase is to start looking at the actual volume method which will take care of the community concerns. He explained that during the last advisory meeting the baseline of 79,000 gallons was supported, even though there is going to be a slightly large increase for the businesses. Mayor Anwar asked the Authority to reconsider the Task Force Committee recommendation. He expressed that he is looking forward to working with the WPCA and the Town Council for adjusting the ordinance for the Sewer User Charge Abatement program which will take care of Town citizens who are challenged financially for a variety of reasons.
“I really appreciate the input that we’ve received and I think everyone in attendance that have spoke, put forward some very strong arguments in favor of the individualized billing system”, Chairman Aries said. He explained that WPCA and the Task Force Committee have heard all of those arguments before; which are carefully considered; however, other countervailing arguments arose during considerations and deliberations. One aspect, he explained, is that the WPCA tends to view the sewer system like the road ways in the town. “We view the sewer system as the silent road way; the underground road way that all leads to the sewer treatment plant,” said Chairman Aries and explained that the sewer system benefits everybody in town, not only in their homes but also in all the public facilities.
There are many indirect benefits that the sewer system has. In terms of its overall value, it is an expensive system; however, the town now has a state of the art sewer treatment plant named after Joseph Carino, former Chairman of the Water Pollution Control Authority. The treatment plant will be compliant with federal and state environmental regulations for now and the foreseeable future. With regards to James Throw’s comment about his desire that capital projects be financed through town money and not through the WPCA, Chairman Aries responded that the Town did assume the financing of the upgrade project after the first debt service payment was made by the Authority. “That was a very good sign for the town government, Town Council and WPCA collaboration and cooperation which has continued to this date with the Task Force Committee”, said Chairman Aries. He explained that when ideas were presented such as using size of household for
purposes of calculating the sewer user charge, it was determined that household size changes a lot in a town for various reasons such as growing population, people going to college, and people moving away. He also explained that it’s been determined that water consumption is actually not an ideal way to measure sewer use; it can end up becoming a very inequitable system as well. The fact that there are two water companies servicing in the Town does not make it any easier either in gathering the records; and preparing billings for each individual as oppose to a uniform billing would add administrative cost. Chairman Aries appreciated input from the public and expressed that the Authority have not finished their quest for greater equity, however, the three proposed changes will definitely be an improvement to what’s currently in place.
With no further questions or comments from the public, Chairman Aries declared the Public Hearing closed at 6:50 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
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Ether A. Diaz
Recording Secretary
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