CROTHERSVILLE
As Crothersville Utilities customers receive their February bill, they will notice an increase in the sewer rate.
In December, the Crothersville Town Council approved a 59.9% increase of the monthly rate to go into effect in February based on January consumption.
During a public hearing at the start of the December meeting, Steve Brock with Therber Brock and Associates said the purpose of the increase is for the town to be able to pay the debt service on a $6,512,000 sewage project. That’s required by the state for the town to become compliant with discharge permits with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
Earlier this week, council President Danieta Foster posted on the Town of Crothersville Facebook page reminding customers of the rate bump.
“Please know that we, as your council, are just as upset as you are about the increase. We pay the bills also,” she wrote. “I ask that customers remember that town employees are not to blame. We are happy to answer any questions you have at any time, but please remember they are just doing their job, so be kind.”
She said if anyone has questions, they can ask them during a council meeting, which is at 6 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month, or the town hall can provide her phone number.
The increase will only be on the sewage works rate on the monthly utility bill. The new rates were determined based on 2020 data.
On the monthly use breakdown, the increase ranges from $14.57 for 1,000 gallons to $73.66 for 12,000 gallons. Foster said the average monthly usage in Crothersville is around 2,500 gallons.
For unmetered customers, Foster said the council is looking into a solution for their rates.
Brad Bender with FPBH Inc. said in 2008, the town was put under an agreed order to take steps to make changes and improvements to the town’s wastewater system.
Crothersville is the smallest of the 109 combined sewer overflow communities in Indiana that are being ordered by IDEM and the Environmental Protection Agency to upgrade its wastewater system to eliminate CSO. Years ago, it was a popular practice to design sanitary and wastewater together.
The agreed order expired at the end of 2020. Bender said the town could have presented a petition to amend the agreed order to an administrative law judge and get a new schedule in place, but that could have resulted in fines, penalties and a possible takeover of the town’s utilities with an increase in rates and charges.
The work includes building a new wet weather overflow main, installing an in-line hydrodynamic stormwater separator, constructing a duplex wet weather pumping station and force main, modifying existing plant surge basins with concrete wall cores and many other key improvements.
In early 2020, the town council approved a bond ordinance not to exceed $6 million, a bond anticipation note for up to $550,000 and an engineering contract for nearly $900,000.
In August 2020, the town was awarded a $700,000 Wastewater/Drinking Water Program grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs to put toward the project.
The rest is being funded on a $5,787,000 State Revolving Fund loan on a fixed interest rate of 3.01% over 35 years and a $25,000 SRF grant.
A virtual preclosing meeting for the loan was conducted before the closure deadline of Dec. 18, and Foster was granted permission to sign contracts and a notice to proceed with construction.
One of the contracts is for FPBH to put together an asset management plan, which is an SRF requirement. That normally would cost around $50,000, but the firm offered a nearly $15,000 discount since it already has done a lot of work on the sewage system and is familiar with it.
Brock said the purpose of the plan is for a community to have an analysis of its assets performed to determine their remaining useful life, the cost to replace them and their criticality of failure.
FPBH will determine a replacement plan over the next 20 years, and Therber Brock and Associates will manage the financial portion of using funds on hand or some sort of additional debt or grant and determining what the utility rates are going to be each year.
The $25,000 SRF grant will offset the cost of the plan, and the remaining cost will be built into the project budget, Brock said.
According to the contract, the project has to have substantial completion by May 2022 and final completion by June 2022.