OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Silver Creek Mayor Jeff Hornburg, left, and Deputy Mayor Kathy Tampio, right, are shown listening to public comments at a Village Board meeting.

SILVER CREEK — After several months of discussion between the Silver Creek Village Board and accountants of Bahgat & Laurito-Bahgat, the Board has settled on an increase to water rates for village residents and outside customers.

The new water rate will be $6.10 per thousand gallons for residents of the village — an increase of $1.02 from the previous rate of $5.08 per thousand gallons, or 20%. Customers outside of the village will be charged $10.60 per thousand gallons, an increase of $1.66 from the previous rate of $8.94 per thousand gallons — an 18.6% increase. Additionally, a water debt service line will be added to each bill, amounting to $19.29 per quarter. The increases take effect Nov. 1.

Mayor Jeff Hornburg called the increases “unavoidable.” He added, “Hopefully, it’s manageable.”

Hornburg explained that water budget appropriations exceed revenue projections to the tune of a $325,589 deficit. Previous budget years utilized a healthy water fund balance to cover the deficit, thanks in large part to the sale of the village’s reservoir several years ago.

However, the well has run dry since then, especially due to the capital project costs of upgrades throughout the village, coupled with the increased cost of water provided through the Erie County Water Authority, which has increased its rates by 25% since 2021. The village’s current water fund balance sits at approximately $65,000 before the rate increase – more than a quarter-million dollars below the deficit for the upcoming year.

Water rates in the village have not increased since 2023. Because of the upgrades to the water and sewer lines, as well as the water treatment system, debt service costs for completed water projects in the village amount to an annual cost of $279,166, making total expenditures surpass $1 million.

Hornburg said the average customer in the village will see an increase of approximately $12 per billing cycle, in addition to the $19.29 debt service charge each quarter. The village has roughly 1,300 water/sewer customers within the village limits. The average consumption of each unit in the village amounts to roughly 12,000 gallons each quarter.

“It’s the cost of doing business,” Hornburg said of the increases. He referenced increases to utilities across the region – specifically the cost of electricity – and highlighted that while Dunkirk and Fredonia significantly raised taxes within the past year, the village of Silver Creek decreased property taxes for the upcoming year.

Still, the water rate increases add to the burden that village residents already face from the debt service charge on each bill stemming from the five-phase Inflow and Infiltration (I&I) project, as mandated by the state. Following an increase of more than $21 each billing cycle approved earlier this year, residents pay $86.14 each quarter in debt service charges on their sewer bills, amounting to $344.56 per year in sewer debt service costs. That figure remains in place along with the water rate increase.

The Village Board will hold a public hearing at the beginning of its next regular meeting, Monday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m., for any resident who wishes to be heard on the matter. The Village Board has the authority to set water rates, and Hornburg stated that the increases are “pretty much a done deal.”

Hornburg said previously that he would hold a public hearing to explain the decision to residents, and in scheduling the hearing prior to the next meeting, he said, “I’m going to be true to my word.”