The Bradford City Water Authority met Tuesday to approve its
2010 budget, and local residents can expect a small increase in
their bills.
The authority voted to raise its meter fee by $1 to $17 per
month and its water usage fee by 20 cents to $1.80 per thousand
gallons.
“It was felt this was needed at this time,” said Executive
Director Kim Benjamin.
The rate increase will be only the third in the last decade.
Perhaps expecting a collective groan from the community, Benjamin
came prepared with statistics showing Bradford’s cheap water costs
compared with other nearby locations.
A survey of 76 water systems in western Pennsylvania and Olean,
N.Y., reveals that 96 percent of those systems charge more than
Bradford’s 2009 rate of $1.60 per thousand gallons, according to
numbers supplied by the authority. Bradford’s combined annual meter
and water usage of $288 in 2009 reportedly was lower than 82
percent of the other systems.
Other economic issues factored into the reasoning for raising
rates.
According to Benjamin, the authority is facing the same
financial problems Bradford City is, timber sales slumped in 2009,
and the authority stopped assessing hydrant fees on Bradford City
in lieu of Bradford’s financial crisis.
“We lost a lot of revenue,” Chairman Ron Orris said of the
timber sales.
The authority’s operating revenues for 2010 project to
$3,052,130, compared to just $2,254,100 in expenses. Of the
$798,030 net income, $644,930 will go toward debt service
requirement. The rest will go toward paying bond issues.
Benjamin will earn $92,974 as the executive director and water
treatment plant manager.
Orris will receive a $12,000 stipend, while the other four board
members will get $2,400 each. The board members’ compensation for
2010 remains unchanged from 2009.
In other business, the authority approved a buyer for its
December sale of timber from the Gilbert Watershed. Larry Johnson
Lumber of Kane submitted a high bid of $17,677.70, beating out four
other bidders.
“All of that (income) comes in this year’s business,” Benjamin
noted.
The sale was for 54,340 net board feet of marked sawtimber and
28 cords of pulpwood located on authority property.
