By Patricia Bogumil
Staff Writer
Supporters and critics of a new fee for 302 grinder pump users in the Town of Waterford Sanitary District (WSD) all say they just want what’s fair.
But neither side can agree on what that is.
A legal notice announcing new WSD rates was published in the Feb. 17 Waterford Post.
New rates
• Effective April 1, all WSD users will pay a monthly charge of $38.33 ($115 quarterly), a 4.5 percent increase from the $110 now charged quarterly.
• A new monthly fee of $7.50 ($22.50 quarterly) has been added only for 302 customers whose property is serviced by a WSD-owned (rather than owner-owned) grinder pump, a situation in effect since 1988 between WSD and its original grinder pump customers.
Grinder pumps are used on properties where sewage must be pumped uphill to the main sewer.
Old guarantees
The new WSD fees have some original grinder pump owners crying foul and pointing to contracts they signed with WSD in 1988, when sewers were laid in.
In return for paying thousands of dollars in hookup fees, they say, WSD guaranteed that WSD would own, maintain and replace as necessary all the original 302 grinder pumps, forever.
Their claim is bolstered by the WSD Code of Ordinances dated March 2008, which is posted on the WSD web site, www.townofwaterfordsd.com.
That code specifies that WSD pays operating costs for the WSD-owned grinder pumps, including equipment replacement costs and administration expenses.
About 600 grinder pump customers whose properties were hooked up after 1988 privately own and maintain their grinder pumps.
Last week, all three WSD commissioners – Bill Girard, Donna Block and Jeff Santaga – were asked by the Waterford Post to share their input about the new WSD rates.
Only Block replied to the Post’s information request.
“It’s hard to get information from the people over there,” said former WSD commissioner Ken Hinz, who lost his re-election bid to Santaga in April 2011.
“I don’t know why everything is so secretive. This is all public information.”
New rules
The reasoning behind the new charges can be gleaned from a new WSD ordinance, No. 11-01, which is also posted on the WSD website.
It changes the guarantees given in the 2008 Code of Ordinances about WSD paying operating costs for the original grinder pump users, and lays a foundation to start charging the new $7.50 monthly fee effective April 1.
“I don’t know how they can do that,” said Hinz. “You have got to follow those (original) rules. That was the deal in the original agreement back then.”
Block said commissioners acted after discussions of the fact that only 302 WSD users have WSD-owned grinder pumps, but that all 1,925 of the district’s users share the costs.
The issue was studied, brought back a few times and then determined that it would be a much more equitable treatment of all of the users if WSD would take a three-year average of the costs to operate the WSD-owned grinder pumps and assess those people the three-year average, she explained.
The 302 users can also choose to begin owning and maintaining that equipment, Block said.
Legal counsel was consulted before the ordinance was adopted, she added.
“It was, and is, an effort to make it more fair and equitable for all the users. This isn’t to target or persecute anyone, but I understand how they feel.”
Block said she was not aware the commission had ever discussed anything about original agreements with the 302 users.
Block said she’d like to see a copy of that agreement, said to contain “forever” guarantees that the pumps would be taken care of at WSD expense.
“You would think that not much is in perpetuity, but maybe this is,” she said.
Word gets around
Ordinance No. 11-01 was not published in the Waterford Post.
Instead, a brief announcement about the existence of a new ordinance to “reclassify users served by municipal-owned grinder pumps” ran twice in the Waterford Post in late December.
It noted that anyone interested could examine a copy of the new ordinance kept on file in the WSD offices at the Town Hall.
Block said the publication notice was an administrative decision by the WSD administrator, rather than a decision made by the commissioners.
Waterford Town Chairman Bob Langmesser said that he and other Town Board members have had to step in to field numerous inquiries from WSD users about what’s going on.
Langmesser said the Town Board doesn’t have the answers because WSD is a separate governing body.
“The Town of Waterford has no say about what they do,” he said.
But Langmesser did offer a suggestion about how to clear out the logjam of confusion.
“I would suggest, as town chairman, that these commissioners have a meeting or a hearing and explain exactly what the new rules of the game are,” Langmesser said.
Unofficial minutes from the WSD Feb. 1 meeting indicate that commissioners unanimously approved asking their attorney to prepare a letter that will explain the new grinder pump charges.
That letter would then be posted on the WSD web site.
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