Committee recommends increase in water rates

The days of the Village picking up a portion of your water bill may soon be over. The Finance Committee has recommended that Forsyth utilities no longer be subsidized by the Village. It’s the first step in ensuring that water and sewer funds be self-sustaining as stated in a Village ordinance, and now it’s up to the Village Board to decide if rates should be raised.

The Finance Committee’s recommendation follows input from Village Treasurer Rhonda Stewart, who stressed that the sewer fund is being subsidized by general funds since residents’ bill payments do not not cover the costs of operation. The issue has been cited by the Village’s auditors, who discouraged transferring funds to mitigate the losses and noted that such funds should be operated at “adequate levels.”

“It’s in the Board’s court now,” said trustee and committee chair Steve Hubbard during a Sept. 1 committee meeting. Hubbard took a straw poll among trustees at their July 20 meeting and found that most trustees were in favor of an increase if operating and maintenance expenses were not covered by incoming revenues.

Stewart said a review of the rates based on the auditors’ comments from last year was delayed until after last spring’s election, when a new Finance Committee chair was appointed.

Committee member and former Village president Dale Yemm said it is fundamentally wrong to subsidize water rates and warned that residents should be aware of the consequences should the Village’s “income stream be interrupted because a catastrophe occurred with the mall.” Hubbard told the committee that there “are no alarms yet [at the mall]” even though sales tax revenues collected in August have dipped for the third consecutive month with a total loss of $10,000 for the year. For the year, the Village is up $12,000.