Commissioner President Randy Guy (l) with MetCom Chairman Steve Willing at Feb. 3 joint meeting.
Lexington Park, MD — St. Mary’s County’s water and sewer agency has proposed a change in its service charges that would lead to a reduction for more than 60 percent of its residential customers. The St. Mary’s Metropolitan Commission (MetCom) proposal was explained at a public information session Monday. Feb. 2 by a consultant hired to do a rate study.
Currently the service charge is a flat monthly fee of $54.25 for water and sewer regardless of the amount used. The proposal is to establish a base fee of $23.90 that is called a “readiness-to-serve” charge to recover a portion of fixed charges from users based upon potential demand. So a house sitting vacant and not using anything would pay that fee instead of the fixed charge now being levied.
In addition to the ready-to-serve fee, the proposal calls for an additional charge based on usage. Homeowners with a 5/8th inch meter (about 90 percent of single-family residences) and who use 5,000 gallons or fewer monthly would pay less than now when the ready-to-use-charge and the service charge are added together.
The proposed rate change only affects one of the three charges imposed by MetCom – the monthly service charge to cover operating expenses. A monthly residential system improvement charge is $14.46 for sewer and $8.81 for water. It is used to cover major repairs and replacement of infrastructure.
Since MetCom has not yet released its proposed budget for the next fiscal year, it is not known whether there will be a proposal to increase the system improvement charge. That budget is expected to be presented by staff to the agency’s commissioners Feb. 26.
The third rate, called the capital improvement charge, is imposed once at the time of connection to the system and was substantially increased in the current year.
At the hearing at Bay District VFD on Feb. 2 the ready-to-serve charge drew fire from several speakers who thought it was unfair to pay if they weren’t using, even though the proposal significantly reduces that charge. The fee is also charged for undeveloped property that is entitled to what is known as an EDU (or Equivalent Dwelling Unit) to tap into the system in the future. MetCom officials explained that an option to save that monthly fee for landowners was to give up the EDU and thus the right to develop,
Sr. VP Andrew Burnham (shown with MetCom attorney Jacki Meiser) of the Burton & Associates consulting firm explained that the tiered system, “Provides affordability for low/average users and promotes water conservation.” Users who irrigate their gardens and lawns would pay a higher rate than they do now.
According to information provided by Burnham at the meeting, some multi-family residential complexes, such as Greens at Hilton Run and Indian Bridge Apartments would also pay less under the new proposal.
Since the proposal calls for user fee revenues to increase over the next four years, the lost revenue would have to be made up from higher use residential customers and commercial users. The proposal calls for a three-percent annual increase in revenue from water service charges and 3.75 percent increase in sewer revenue.
Commercial customers will get the biggest hit under the proposal. A meeting was held last year to explain the proposal to the business community, but they are expected to be the most vocal as the proposal goes through the vetting process. At a joint Commissioners of St. Mary’s County-MetCom meeting Tuesday, Feb. 3 at Southern Maryland Higher Education Center that proposal came under fire from several county commissioners and MetCom commissioners.
According to information provided by the consultant, users such as the Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship would pay $1,475.29 more in monthly service charges, Target would get a monthly $1,572.06 hit, Extended Stay America $1,547.52 more and Food Lion would get a monthly increase of $1,071.06.
MetCom is an independent, quasi-governmental entity. While its members are appointed by the county commissioners, they have no control over its operating budget. Recent legislation did give them a say in the capital improvement budget.
Burnham was asked by The Bay Net if his study included any analysis of the agency’s current operating expenses. He said it didn’t, although the study concluded that the current budget would likely increase by 3.7 percent annually, including 4.5 percent for salaries.
During the recent county commissioner election process, several of the candidates who prevailed promised more oversight over MetCom due to increasing customer fees.
MetCom’s current executive director, Dan Ichniowski, has resigned. Four candidates are being interviewed and commission chairman Steve Willing said a selection would be made soon.
At the Feb. 2 public meeting several citizens expressed dismay at the lack of citizen accountability over the commission. One speaker suggested a citizen advisory committee. But MetCom Attorney Jacquelyn Meiser said the commission was always open to listening to any groups but would not likely be involved in establishing such a citizens’ organization.
After review by the MetCom commissioners, both the capital and operating budgets will be the subject of a public hearing April 6 at the MetCom headquarters in First Colony at 23121 Camden Way, California.
Contact Dick Myers at news@thebaynet.com