The St. Mary’s County Metropolitan Commission (MetCom) has come under fire for escalating rates being charged to its customers. Commission representatives met with the county commissioners Tuesday to present their capital plans and then later in the day held a public hearing on the proposed rates and fees for the coming fiscal year. There was criticism at both meetings.
MetCom is an independent agency whose members are appointed by the county commissioners. They operate 28 water systems, 70 wells, 16 elevated water storage tanks, five sewage treatment plants (owned and operated), three sewage treatment plants owned by others and 63 pumping stations. They serve about half the county’s population.
The proposed Fiscal Year 2015 budget presented at the public hearing includes a 3.66 percent increase in sewer service charge rates, 2.28 percent increase in water service charge rates, six percent increase in sewer system improvement charges (per EDU) and a 12 percent increase in water system improvement charges. MetCom officials claim the rates will still be well under federal guidelines for the percentage of income dedicated to paying such fees.
New construction will take a really big hit in the proposal. Connection fees for both residential and commercial sewer will increase by 33 percent and the fees for both residential and commercial water connections will increase a whopping 71.5 percent. The fees are usually passed on to the buyer.
At the public hearing one developer said the fee increases could be a deal breaker for his project. Chief Executive Officer of Cherry Cove Development said of the connection fee increase’s impact on the company’s proposed East Run project on Great Mills Road: “It will take that off the table.”
East Run includes a much lauded medical office building, along with two five-story apartment buildings and 129 single-family residences that would replace Lord Calvert Trailer Park. The medical office building funding is in place, Norris told the planning commission last June. The remainder of the project was a dependent on a number of economic factors, Norris said. Apparently the connection fee proposal is another of those factors which will give the developer pause.
Norris asked MetCom Executive Director Dan Ichniowski whether he was concerned that the proposed hike in the connection charges would put St. Mary’s uncompetitive with Calvert. Ichniowski said he didn’t believe so. “Calvert has a no-growth policy,” he observed.
MetCom is in the process of rolling out a smart meter program, with the second phase scheduled for the coming fiscal year. Several speakers at the hearing complained that MetCom is holding up implementation of a new fee structure based on usage until the complete meter rollout is complete.
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