JCSA Customers May See Rate Hike

By Desiree Parker Thursday, January 26, 2012

James City Service Authority customers could see a 15 percent increase in sewer bills next year, which will help the county repair ailing sewers as ordered by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

Since then, the county has been studying the impact and planning the work that’s needed – the JSCA estimates it will take $60 to $70 million over the course of 20 years to meet the agreement. This works out to about $3 to $4 million in needed project funding every year.

Larry Foster, head of the JCSA, told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday that connection fees, a main source of capital funding for the JCSA, have been lower since the economic downturn. The connection fees have been bringing in about $1.4 million a year in recent years, and this means an extra $2.1 million is needed each year to fund the repair work required by the agreement.

Projects are expected to start in 2013. The JSCA’s only way to find the revenue needed would be to increase fees, which Foster said isn’t a good idea considering the current housing market, or to raise the sewer service rate (this is not the same as the water rate charged to customers based on how much water they consume; this is the rate related to sewer service).

The JCSA is suggesting a 15 percent increase, which would raise the rate from $2.80 to $3.22 per 1,000 gallons of water or from $2.09 to $2.41 per 100 cubic feet of water.

This would raise the average bill by about $7.56 per quarter based on an average water use of 6,000 gallons.

This rate increase will only generate $750,000, which means future sewer rate increases will be needed to meet the terms of the consent order.

The JCSA will hold a public hearing on the rate increase in the spring, and the new rate would likely go into effect in July.