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Jul 31, 2023

City water authority tables proposal for fee revisions

Aug 29, 2023 The Altoona Water Authority on Thursday tabled a proposal to revise “rates and rules,” after some board members felt uncomfortable with a provision to charge a “restoration” fee for

Aug 29, 2023

The Altoona Water Authority on Thursday tabled a proposal to revise “rates and rules,” after some board members felt uncomfortable with a provision to charge a “restoration” fee for hookups to properties that have been out of service for five or more years.

The provision is based on the idea that although such properties have been vacant, the authority has made water service available during those vacancy periods and that such availability has value — represented by the $33 a month in “fixed cost” charges that active residential customers pay, said Billing Director Ron Becher.

The proposed $650 water and sewer restoration fee in those cases may make sense from the authority’s point of view, but probably not from the perspective of a buyer who restores a vacant house and wants to hook up to existing lines without paying a penalty for prior inactivity that wasn’t his fault, said board member Cory Gehret.

Maybe the authority needs to strike a balance between keeping the burden light on prospective new owners versus not letting old owners who let their properties go take advantage of the system, said meeting attendee Colin Lennox. It’s in the interest of the authority to promote development, Lennox said.

The proposed restoration fee — $500 for water and $150 for sewer — is the same as the existing tap fee for an entirely new service, Becher said. Hooking up after five or more years of vacancy is tantamount to providing a new service connection, Becher and General Manager Mark Perry suggested.

“We made sure water service was available for that property for (those vacant) years (during which) you haven’t paid us,” Becher said. “Our approach is that you should be buying back into the system like a new customer (via the equivalent of a tap fee).”

The $33-a-month fixed-cost payments that the authority didn’t collect on vacant properties over five years totals about $2,000 — far more than the proposed restoration fee, Becher said.

“We just recover some of (the loss),” Becher said.

Still the restoration fee seems like a potential “double whammy” when coupled with another provision that would require owners to reimburse the authority for the cost of replacing the section of service line between the main and the curb — if those are no longer serviceable, said board member Jack Speece.

Other proposed provisions:

ö The authority wouldn’t provide water service to a new property if an owner has failed to pay any prior authority bills. Currently, the authority denies a hookup for unpaid bills only when those relate to the property for which the hookup is requested.

ö The authority could go after property owners for additional tap fee money if the owners’ gallons-per-month estimate on which those initial fees are based turn out to be too low.

ö The authority would allow customers to pay tap fees on a payment plan for up to five years — although connection fees to cover the actual cost of running a service line to the curb and installing a meter would continue to be paid upfront.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.

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