Water rate hike prompts petition drive in Brewer

BREWER – A proposed 15 percent water rate increase is having a ripple effect on residents upset about the increase.

A small group of seven or eight residents has formed and is circulating petitions to fight the increase proposed by the Brewer Water Department. So far, nearly 100 residents have signed, according to Larry Ayott, who is spearheading the effort.

The informal group formed after questions were left unanswered at a July 21 public hearing at Brewer City Hall, Ayott said.

“We left the meeting, a lot of us, scratching our heads,” he said Tuesday. “We all felt that we were given incomplete information. This is something people are not happy about.”

Residents now pay $58.90 for 900 cubic feet or 6,732 gallons of city water. With the proposed increase, set to begin Dec. 1, customers would pay $67.74 for the same amount.

The proposed increase is a result of past debts and ongoing projects, city officials said.

When the city took over the Brewer Water District in January 2003, it also took on the district’s $14 million debt and two planned projects, Brewer Water Department Superintendent Scott Clukey said Tuesday.

The inherited projects include building a new 1.56 million-gallon water tower on Whiting’s Hill and a 20-inch transmission line that runs from the tank into town along the parallel road, known as Dirigo Drive. Both projects are under way.

“They’re needed projects,” the water superintendent said. “That waterline was designed as a transmission line to feed the inner city. It’s not [only] for the people on that street. It’s to help the flow and build the pressure up. If we only wanted to feed that road, we would have put in a 6- or 8-inch line.”

The new line would increase water flow to several low-flow areas including near the high school, where water flow is lower than desired for fighting fires, Clukey said.

The petitioners have included five major questions on the document that they want answered, including:

. Whether the increase is reasonable.

. Whether the department is running efficiently.

. Whether the increase is based on known and measurable changes to the expenses and revenues of the department.

. Whether the department is “taking advantage of all economies of scale” as a newly created city department.

. And whether the water department should charge residents for a new waterline that runs the length of the under-construction parallel road.

The petition requests that the Public Utilities Commission suspend the new rate while reviewing and investigating the issues raised.

Clukey said that most of the questions were answered at the July 21 rate hearing.

The outcome of the PUC review actually could mean a higher rate increase, he said.

“It is possible that they come back and say our rates are not high enough to fund 100 percent of our debt,” the official said. “The PUC has the right to say you have to fund 100 percent of it, and we didn’t come close to the 100 percent. We held the increase at 15 percent because we felt with everything else going on in these tough economic times, we didn’t want to overburden the ratepayers.”

The group needs to turn in the signatures of 528 ratepayers to get a formal hearing in front of the PUC by Aug. 20.

To get the word out, petition supporters are hosting a “No rate hike Tuesday” on Aug. 3 at several locations in Brewer. Petition forms also are available at City Hall.