PC: Fox 11 Online
SEYMOUR, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Residents and business owners in Seymour will soon be paying more for water and sewer utilities. The city council is poised to approve a proposal that would increase the rates by more than 400%.
The wastewater treatment facility in Seymour was built in 1982 with a 20-year design capacity. More than 40 years later, DNR and EPA regulations have evolved and the current facility is outdated and eventually will soon not meet the state regulatory requirements.
The city, taking to its website, to explain the needs and plans for a more than $19 million dollar upgrade to the system.
Residents just recently learning, recently, how these upgrades will impact them.
“We want good water. You’ve got to take care of your infrastructure. There’s just a lot of things to take into consideration. Like everything else, prices have just gone up,” said Andy Huettl.
According to city estimates, the average monthly water usage is 3,00 gallons per property. Under the old rate, residents would pay $26.58 per month. The new rate, would be a more than $50 increase to $80.13 per month.
According to resident Lyle Weyers, “People that live on a fixed budget are going to have a hard time with that kind of increase.”
Even those not living on a fixed income are struggling to accept the proposal.
“It’s going to be big! Suddenly our $56 bill at our house is going to turn into, it’s going to raise this month but by the end of January it’s going to be about $240-something a month for water, crappy water, terrible water. The water is just awful, full of calcium, rusty. It’s awful,” said Shane Ness.
The city website says the sewer utility needs to be self sustaining through its rate structure. And the increase revenue from sewer fees will not only cover the cost of the upgrades, but maintenance costs as well.
Resident Susan Luckey said, “We’re here in 2023 and there’s nothing we can actually do. We can be upset about it, yeah. We can voice our opinions at the city council meeting, but it doesn’t stop the fact that they have it, it’s going to take over $9-million to fix it.”
The city, on its website, says it plans to apply for grants through the EPA that could cover about half of the cost of the project – which could change the rate increase seen by property owners. But it also goes on to explain that simply charging people blindly, in anticipation of potential future upgrades to the system wasn’t an option – leading to the situation it finds itself in now.
It’s an explanation residents and business owners are having a hard time accepting. Shane Ness adds, “They’re going to absolutely kill us on the whole thing. Call it whatever you want. If they were giving up great water and they really charged us high for sewer that would be, you could deal with that. They’ve given us crap and they’re overcharging us for the wastewater.”
Seymour isn’t the only community facing this issue.
It says other small communities are also going to be required to build new or expand existing wastewater treatment facilities as well and they will be forced to increase their rates too.
The city is hosting an informational meeting on the rate increase coming up on August 28 at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
Following that meeting the city council is scheduled to take formal action on the proposal.
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