By CRISTINE MEIXNER

Express Editor

SPECULATOR - The Village of Speculator Board of Trustees approved new water and sewer rates last week that will go into effect Feb. 1.

The new rates were reached using software called Simple Rates. Simple Rates allows Water / Wastewater Department Chief Operator Florence Braunius to enter information about usage, costs and more and comes up with the rates needed to cover expenses.

The base rate for water per quarter will go from $37.80 to $70.55. The usage rate will go from $4.67 to $5.04 per 1,000 gallons.

The average use is 2,000 gallons a month or 6,000 gallons a quarter, for an average usage rate of $30.24 per quarter. The total bill per quarter would be $100.79 based on the average use rate.

The new water rate structure reflects a 22.8 percent increase for the average user, or about 27 cents more per day.

The base rate for sewer per quarter will go from $88.44 to $93.68. The usage rate will go from $4.57 to $7.90 per 1,000 gallons.

The average use is 2,000 gallons a month or 6,000 gallons a quarter, for an average usage rate of $47.40 per quarter. The total bill per quarter would be $141.08 based on the average use rate.

The new sewer rate structure reflects a 3.4 percent increase for the average user, or about 5 cents more per day.

The new combined water and sewer bills per quarter will be $241.87 based on the average use rate.

The rates were last raised Aug. 1, 2011. The increase was expected to be temporary, to pay for pump repairs at the water and sewer plants, and includes a $12.93 special water assessment.

However, water / wastewater revenues do not cover expenses, and the village has been making up the difference from the General Fund for years.

“The reason we are in the red is not because we exceed the budget,” Braunius said. “We spend about $190,000 a year but we only bring in about $160,000 a year. It’s not that our budget is too high, but our revenue is too low.”

Braunius reviewed water expenditures after Trustee Karen McComb asked, “Can’t we cut spending?” The only item to raise debate was a proposed replacement fund of $29,225 calculated by Simple Rates for future needs.

“It’s just in case,” Braunius said, noting grant funding has dried up. “We still have old water lines from The Four Corners to the movie theater and Rt. 8 from The Inn down and only a six-inch line to Camp-of-the-Woods.”

Mayor Letty Rudes argued strongly for some of the money earmarked for the replacement fund going toward paying back the General Fund instead.

According to Clerk Bonnie Page, the Water Fund owes the General Fund $213,000.

“For the immediate future I would like to see that money go back to the General Fund,” Rudes said. “I don’t know if [the General Fund] can hold out much longer. A 10-year payback is $21,000 a year. She has $29,225 in the replacement fund.”

Braunius agreed some of the money could go to the General Fund. “With water in fairly good shape; we have replaced everything except the well pump, so of the annual payment to the replacement fund half could probably go to the General Fund,” she said.

Trustee Del Cook asked, “Why doesn’t it make sense to split it 50/50, half to the General Fund and half to [the replacement fund]?”

“You can give the General Fund $21,000 a year and put $8,225 in reserve,” Rudes said, and that is what the board decided to do.

“This decision is based on the fact that the General Fund should no longer support the water or sewer funds,” Rudes said after the meeting. “Unfortunately, there has never been enough money charged for these services, and the time has come to fix the problem.”

The board of trustees will next meet Monday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m. at Village Hall.