The City of T or C is considering how much to increase water and sewer rates and T or C City Manager Gary Whitehead came to the Village of Williamsburg April 9 Trustee meeting to explain what effect such increases could have on Villagers.
It’s complicated, because the Village owns its own sewer lines and its two lift stations but T or C owns the wastewater treatment plant and the Village’s water pipes and water system.
Since 1975 the two local governments have had a sewer agreement, which was amended in 2018. That document is at the end of this article.
It essentially states that T or C owns the wastewater treatment plant and the Village owns the “collection” system of pipes and lift stations, but T or C will maintain the Village’s collection system. Whitehead said at the April 9 meeting that the city is supposed to be checking on the Village’s two lift stations daily.
The Village has nearly completed a $4.2-million sewer project, which was contracted to local engineering firm SmithCo. All the sewer lines were “relined” via a cement whirling devise, all the manholes were either replaced or repaired, and all that is left is the two lift stations.
Late December, Whitehead said, their routine inspection revealed the lift station at Central a half-block off Broadway was not working properly. Something, something “float” system worked until late afternoon and then sewer water stopped moving and started backing up. SmithCo brought in a mobile pump/generator, which was recently replaced with the always intended new-pump replacement. The delivery of the pumps for the two lift stations were delayed for months, and wouldn’t you know it, one of them malfunctioned right before it was replaced. The electrical control panels that operate and monitor the pumps are yet to arrive. Whitehead said it will ease the city’s inspection process when the control panels are installed.
I always assumed that T or C set the base sewer fee for Villagers to cover operations and maintenance and then a second fee on top for the processing at the wastewater treatment plant. But that is not how it works.
The Village of Williamsburg has always set its own sewer rates and T or C puts it on their bills, collects its fees and sends any left over revenue to the Village.
Currently T or C charges a base sewer rate of nearly $14.50 and the Village charges a base fee of nearly $24. Both the Village and T or C increase so rates 5 percent annually and have done so for years. I have sought the Village’s sewer-rate ordinance but have not received it. The Village’s website does not include its code of ordinances.
The Village’s base sewer rate is 60 percent higher than T or C’s.
On top of that base fee, Villagers are charged another fee for sewage treatment, which is determined by how much water each of the 240 sewer utility users the Village has on the books currently.
Whitehead said it costs the city about $5.70 to treat 1,000 gallons of water at the plant. But the Village controls that fee and has set it at $5.08, which Whitehead said T or C is fine with for now, but that may change, depending on what T or C decides to do about the suggested increases in the water and wastewater rate study.
The Village will increase the $5.08 per 1,000 gallon fee by 5 percent May 1, Village Mayor Deb Stubblefield said.
To determine how many thousands a Village resident uses and thus how many additional increments of $5.08 charges will be added to each resident’s bill, the City of T or C goes through a yearly averaging exercise. November, December and January, Whitehead said, the city notes how many units of 1,000 gallons of water each of the 240 Village residents and businesses use and then takes an average of those three numbers. If you use an average of 2,000 gallons, then you will have paid $10.16 on top of the $24 base fee per month over the last year.
Stubblefield said the Village will raise its sewer base and per 1,000 gallon fees more than 5 percent if T or C raises its water and sewer fees higher than that because it just barely has enough sewer revenue coming in to pay off its sewer debt from the $4.2 million sewer project.
Whitehead said the sewer and water fees will go up beyond 5 percent if the city doesn’t get a $2 million grant it applied for that will go to fixes to the wastewater treatment plant, ordered by the New Mexico Environment Department. The fixes will cost about $5 million and the city has already received nearly $3 million in grants.
The lesson? It is very expensive for a small village to own its own sewer pipes and lift stations. The Village of Williamsburg separated from T or C in the 1950s because it couldn’t stand the thought of the city’s name of Hot Springs being changed to the game-show name. Villagers are still paying the consequences of that supposed extrication that merely convoluted their relationship. High sewer fees is just one instance of many.