Thurmont sewer rates to rise to pay for repairs

BY JAMES RADA JR.
Thurmont News Editor

THURMONT, Md. – Thurmont’s sewer rates are about to rise as the bill comes due for sewer repairs in Thurmont.

“The board will have to approve it, but I would like it done as soon as possible because we have to start paying on the loan,” Mayor Martin Burns said.

Thurmont Clerk/Treasurer Rick May confirmed that he is preparing the information and documents that are needed for the commissioners to enact the increase.

“The board knows we’re going to have to raise the rates,” Burns said. “They knew it when we began making the repairs.”

The commissioners voted in January 2006 to spend up to $1.7 million to work on the town’s inflow and infiltration problems. The expense was financed by a low-interest loan from Maryland Water Quality Administration.

The town has experienced I&I problems for decades. Illegal sump pumps, broken pipes, broken manholes and similar problems allow too much water to get into the town’s system, which leads to sewage spills. Maryland Department of the Environment fined the town $750 late last year because of a small overflow.

Burns said the increase would be at least $1 per 1,000 gallons. However, this number is based on paying off the actual costs of the phase 1 sewer improvements, which Burns said are “considerably” lower than the $1.6 million loan.

“MDE wants us to monitor the flow for 18 months,” Burns said. “Renting flow meters is very expensive. I would like to use the difference to purchase the meters.”

That would increase the rate even more than $1.

In addition, the phase 2 sewer improvements are estimated to cost around $4.6 million and would add another $3 to the current rate, which is $5.95 per 1,000 gallons. Consequently, the town is looking at around a 67-percent sewer-rate increase over the next few years.

Because the sewer fund is self-supporting, the town can’t use general fund revenue to offset the increase. Grants or other donations can be used if specified for the sewer fund. To date, the town has neither, so the money to pay the loan will have to come from rate increases.

According to Burns, the new rate needs to go into effect by February to begin generating the needed funds.

Ross Contracting, Inc. of Mt. Airy recently completed the improvements. The town will now begin to monitor the flows to see how much the repairs affect the wastewater flows.