Recent Stevi water and sewer history

By Mark Harris, Stevensville

I recently encountered some folks complaining about Stevensville’s water and sewer rates on social media. They blamed Mayor Dewey for the costs. I just wanted to comment a little on the recent history of our water and sewer rates.

My family moved to Stevensville in 2002. The water and sewer bill for my residence was approximately $119 quarterly. I thought at the time that this had to be one of the biggest bargains in history. At the time, our municipal water supply system was old and leaky. It struggled to keep up with demand in our growing community. This rate included an existing sewer bond of $50.25 per quarter.  

Some time around 2010, the town got a chance for a Federal grant to improve our water system. I believe that the grant would pay for 75 per cent of the cost of improvements and the town would be responsible for 25 per cent of the cost. The council voted to participate and to take out a loan for the 25 per cent that the town would need to pay. This accounts for the “water bond” portion of the bills. Our water bills increased substantially. The town council opted to install meters for each customer, so that customers could be billed for usage as well as the base rate. And of course, another portion of the bill was instituted to cover the water bond. Since the bond raised peoples’ bills substantially, the town opted to change the billing cycle to monthly instead of quarterly.

Since then, the town has raised water and sewer rates occasionally to cover increased operating and maintenance (O&M) costs. I believe these must be initiated and approved by the council and I have several pieces of old correspondence in my file indicating that each time this was done, there was a period for public comment prior to the council voting them in. I don’t recall all the mayors in office while this was going on, but I do know that Mayor Bill Meisner, Mayor Gene Mim-Mack, and Mayor Lew Barnett were the mayors during parts of it.

The bond repayments are fixed costs. The operating and maintenance fees are based on the costs of doing business to get your water to you safely and to take away and treat your wastes. Any change to any portion of your bill requires action (a vote) by the town council. None of this procedure has changed since Mayor Dewey took office in 2018.

For those of you who are still concerned about our water and sewer rates, there is some potential good news on the horizon: At the town council meeting last Thursday, the council agreed to look at an offer from a financial institution to refinance the water and sewer bonds. It is not written in stone, yet, as they’d have to analyze it to make sure it is to the town’s advantage, but it could potentially save Town of Stevensville (taxpayers) a couple million dollars by reducing the time (number of payments) it would take to pay off those bonds. I am extremely glad the council voted unanimously to entertain this possibility.