UPDATED June 3 9:45 a.m.- With six out of ten members present, the Stratford Water Pollution Control Authority approved a 6.5% increase in user fees for the fiscal year 2015, which begins July 1, at a special meeting on June 2.
The sewer fee for Stratford residences was increased $25 per year, from $375 to $400, and the fee for commercial accounts was increased by 30-cents per unit, going from $4.37 to $4.67.
Mayor John Harkins had proposed a 13% increase in sewer fees — to $425 for residences and $4.95 for businesses. Revenue from those fees would have established a balanced budget, according to Stratford Chief Administrative Officer Steven Nocera during the meeting.
Stratford Chief Administrative Officer Steven Nocera, standing, listens to WPCA member Stephanie Philips, partially obscured in white, ask questions before voting to increase the sewer fee. WPCA members Jim Connor, in dark suit, and Jason Santi were also at the table. Greg Reilly photo.
With the 6.5% increase in sewer fees the WPCA will be expected to take about $525,000 from the its $5.2 million cash reserve account, unless expense savings can be found in the WPCA budget, Nocera said.
If there were no fee increase this year Nocera said that the WPCA would have been expected to take $1.1 million from its cash reserves if the expense budget remained the same.
The WPCA is comprised of the 10 individuals elected to the Town Council. Absent from Tuesday’s meeting on the sewer fee vote were Craig Budnick (R-7), Matthew Catalano (R-2), Paul Hoydick (R-10), and WPCA Chairman Peter Massey (R-1).
During discussion of the possible sewer fees Nocera and Stratford Director of Finance Susan Collier brought up the possibility of the town selling to the WPCA the land on which the Water Pollution Control facilities sit. The town is committed to raising $4.5 million in general fund revenue from the sale of properties during fiscal year 2015 to pay for expenses in the expense budget.
WPCA member and Town Council Chairman Joe Kubic said after the meeting that he expects that the town will sell its nine acres of land to the WPCA, which is legally a separate entity from the town, and that such a sale would be part of a plan to eventually sell have the WPCA break away from the town and become part of a new regional water authority.
Also after last night’s WPCA fee increase meeting, WPCA member and Councilwoman Stephanie Philips told a group that lingered that she has heard that a possible new regional water authority would consist of Stratford, Trumbull and Monroe.
Part of the Stratford Water Pollution Control facility on Beacon Point Road. Greg Reilly photo.
Nocera’s and Collier’s brought attention to the fact that dipping into the WPCA cash reserve account to cover annual operational expenses would affect the amount of cash that WPCA would have available to buy the land from the town, if it decided to do so. The nine acres of WPCA land has been assessed at $5.6 million, according to Mayor Harkins’ office, which gives it an estimated market value of $8 million.