By Cory L. Higgs
The Town of Stuart’s proposed budget for the 2021 fiscal year includes a two-percent water and sewer increase.
Mayor Ray Weiland said the increase is needed to maintain operations at its current capacity. “Many advisors in water and sewer fees suggest that a perpetual 2 percent per year fee increase is just and reasonable. I do not intend to do that.”
Both the General and Sanitation funds have decreased, while the water and sewer budget has increased. He added that the town’s water and sewer costs rise each year, primarily due to expenses associated with electricity, insurance, and chemicals.
“The use of general funds for water and sewer have been primarily due to waterline breakage, and sewer plant repairs of our old equipment, not to mention electricity, chemicals, and insurance increases. We will be making major upgrades to our sewer plant this year. The Town has funding from Rural Development of nearly $1.5 million as a 60/40 loan/grant, and we are hopeful that the new equipment and upgrades will greatly reduce the costs of our sewer plant operation,” he said.
He added that any surplus from sanitation would remain in that budget to buy garbage trucks every 12 to 15 years, a pricey commodity, he said.
“We do not expect to see any significant increase in revenue for our water and sewer departments in the foreseeable future; it would take significant growth in the town and in water/sewer use to help those revenues increase,” Weiland said, adding that the town has a production capacity of approximately 1 million gallon daily and currently uses around 250,000 gallons.
The same is true with the sewer capacity, with around 600,000 gallon capacity, while only about 250,000 are being used.
“We hope to attract a business (or businesses) that need excess water and sewer capacity. If we could do that, it would take a lot of the financial burden off of our residents who now cover nearly all of our water and sewer costs,” said Weiland, adding that the plant was built when the town had more water demanding industry.
Weiland reiterated that the proposed increase in the water and sewer costs were to cover electric chemical, insurance, and other operational costs that rise every year.
“We need our water treatment plant to ensure that our drinking water is safe for us to drink and meets all regulations of EPA and the state Office of Drinking Water. We need our sewer plant to make sure that the water we discharge back into the Mayo River is clean and will not harm the environment,” he said.
The Town of Stuart website includes annual water reports conducted by the EPA and Department of Environmental Quality, and the Town has received the silver award for plant operation every year since the conception of the awards, Weiland said.
A public hearing on Stuart’s proposed budget will be held during the council’s May 20 meeting, which begins at 7 p.m.
