Customers of the Bradford City Water Authority will see a rate increase next year.

On Wednesday, the authority approved a 2021 budget with an increase from $3.60 to $4.25 per 1,000 gallons of water.

The fixed meter fee of $19 per month for each customer remains the same. Also remaining the same will be the added surcharge that customers in high elevation pay to cover the cost of additional pumping and chlorinating; that surcharge will remain at 55 cents/1,000 gallons.

Executive Director Steve Disney explained the average residential water customer in Bradford uses about 4,000 gallons of water per month, which translates to an approximate increase of $2.60 per month, or $31.20 per year.

“The increase is necessary to fund the new 24-inch transmission main and to cover revenue shortfalls due to losses in water consumption,” he said.

The redundant transmission main is being installed to prevent another water crisis like the one in 2015 that left customers without normal water service for several days.

Disney noted this is the last of three rate increases needed to reach the minimum rate increase of $1.30/1,000 gallon needed to fund the transmission main project. Rates increased by 45 cents in both 2019 and 2020.

Forty cents of the 2021 increase will fund the transmission main project, and the other 25 cents will fund an unforeseen decrease in annual water consumption of 101,000,000 since 2017.

Water consumption fell 6.8% in 2019, another 6.5% in 2020, and the authority’s 2021 budget is anticipating an additional drop of 2.1% next year, Disney said. The authority is projecting it will finish 2020 at 667,188,000 gallons, and the 2021 budget is estimating a drop to 653,580,000 gallons.

The budget includes revenue projections of $4,648,821, operating expenses of $3,266,650, debt service requirement of $1,019,904 and $367,267 available for capital expenditures.

According to Disney, “The foregoing would have a debt service coverage ratio of 1.36 (net revenue/debt service requirement). The bond indenture requires a coverage of 1.2.

“To further explain the 2021 annualized debt of $1,019,904, debt service from the bonded debt in 2021 totals $719,763, additional debt regarding the new PennVEST low interest loan include $300,141 in loan payments.”

In other news, Bradford’s water supply level has continued to improve since November’s authority meeting.

Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection declared a drought warning in McKean County. The warning has not been lifted.

Heffner Reservoir — the authority’s main water source — is currently 7 feet below the spillway. At its lowest point of the year in October, it was 11.5 feet below the spillway. It was at 62% full capacity in November and is now up to 73% of full capacity.

Both Marilla and Gilbert reservoirs are full, but daily withdrawals from the Marilla Reservoir are still at increased flow rates.

Combined, all three reservoirs are 81% of full capacity, up from 72% in November.

Regarding progress on the redundant transmission main installation, the water main is all installed, but the main at Reservoir No. 4 has not been placed online yet, pending completion of work at the valve vaults. Electrical work is underway to provide power to the vaults.

Final clean-up, punch list items and landscaping will be done in the spring.

Regarding a recent incident in which a man drove a vehicle into the water treatment plant, Disney said the authority has incurred $10,997.10 in expenses for emergency repairs to secure the facility. The initial expenses have been submitted to the insurance company, and an estimate for permanent repairs is now being formulated.

The board passed a resolution saying the authority and its employees are to continue to follow COVID-19 mitigation and occupational safety guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The authority encourages all employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccination when they are available.

In 2021, board meetings are scheduled for noon on the fourth Wednesday of each month, along with noon on the third Wednesday of each month as needed. They meet in the Kubiak Building, 28 Kennedy St.