GUILFORD – Guilford-Sangerville Water District officials plan to seek a rate increase later this year to offset a nearly $34,000 overdraft last year.

“We’ve got to basically raise rates to get it [the account] back on the black side,” Lance Pulkkinen, district manager, said Tuesday. He said the overdraft could not be attributed to any particular reason, but to maintenance and repair costs in general. The problem was compounded by a decrease in commercial and industrial revenue as a result of the slow economy. He does not expect such a loss this year.

Pulkkinen said the district has not had a rate increase since 1998, and typically water districts look for such increases every four to six years to keep up with rising costs. He anticipates that the water district trustees will petition the Public Utilities Commission this summer for an increase of about 15 percent in water rates. That would represent about a $5 increase in the quarterly bills of residential consumers, he said.

District officials had planned to replace a water main on Elm Street this year and had hoped a significant portion of the project would be funded by a Community Development Block Grant, but the district did not receive the grant. They do plan to apply for the funds again this year.