ROBERT PAUL
WESTFIELD – The Finance Committee discussed the Water Resource Department this week, which includes two revenue generating divisions, water and wastewater treatment, whose budgets are limited by state law.
The state law dictates that the proposed budget cannot exceed the total receipts for the previous year, which is not a major concern for the sewerage treatment facility, funded through fees assessed to residents and business.
The law is a major area of concern in the water budget because revenue is directly linked to the weather, and for the past two summers, to major infrastructure improvement projects. Wet summers mean lower revenue as lawn irrigation is not needed and outdoor recreational use of water is curtailed.
The department counts on increased water consumption, which translates into increased revenue, during the warmer months when water is used for lawn, garden and vehicle maintenance, and for outdoor recreation.
However, last summer the Granville Reservoir was taken off line to replace the transmission line between the reservoir and the treatment plant and to make repairs to the reservoir dam which occurred during Tropical Storm Irene.
The reservoir provides about half of the city’s drinking water, and the municipal well system provides the other half, but at a much higher cost because of electrical consumption by the wells.
The Water Commission imposed a ban limiting usage of outdoor water, and decided just earlier this month to extend that band to the end of September, due to on-going improvements at the Granville Reservoir.
Water Resource Superintendent Dave Billips said the department had to make about a half-million in cuts.
“We had to cut and cut to get it down to the previous year’s revenue,” he said.
The Water Department budget for the current 2014 fiscal year was initially $5,493,546 and inflated to actual spending of $5,823,443. Billips submitted a departmental budget of $5,191,085, which was approved by Mayor Daniel M. Knapik, a 10.86 percent decrease in funding.
The Water Commission voted to increase water consumption rates by nearly 10 percent, a rate increase which will be included in water bills beginning in July. That vote was taken to increase revenue to eliminate the cycle of budget cuts.
The water and wastewater budgets have historically been cut when the budget is approved in June and again in November or December when the City Council has to balance the municipal budget as part of the process in setting the tax rate.
Ward 5 Councilor Robert Paul Sr., a member of the Finance Committee, said that new automatic reading meters, (AMR) would increase revenue.
Billips said that currently the water division cannot account for 17 percent of the water pumped into the distribution system and that the new AMR meter will cut that volume in half, translating into a revenue increase of between $300,000 and $400,000 a year.
Paul also suggested that the division use a similar rate structure used by electric utilities which charge a higher rate during highest demand hours and a lower rate during off-demand hours.
Paul also questioned if the department could go to a monthly billing schedule instead of the current quarterly billing process.
