Seeking cash flow
Water hike linked to meters; new delinquent charge sought
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Dunkirk officials attempted this week to link a proposed water fee increase with the need for new meters. They also announced a plan to levy a 25% administrative fee onto delinquent accounts.
Most of the city's approximately 6,500 water meters are about 20 years old, and are near the end of their life expectancy. Mike Przybycien, deputy director of the Department of Public Works, said at a Common Council Finance Committee meeting that the meters' internal batteries have about a 20-year lifespan.
However, his boss, DPW Director Randy Woodbury, said that as it is now, "we have zero fund balance" and the city would have to borrow in order to replace the meters.
Therefore, "we have to make a little more" from city water customers in order to pay for the new technology.
Przybycien said a few meters are replaced every year, but wasn't sure how many have been in total. He estimated that of the 6,500 meters, fewer than 1,000 got switched out.
He said the new meters have "smart" technology that can, for example, detect a leak from a different line nearby.
Dunkirk plans to raise its base fee for water usage from $20 to $30 for each billing period, and do away with a "declining block rate" system that gives big discounts to large, industrial users. Its charge for water used above the base rate -- which is changing to 3,000 gallons, instead of the current 2,000 -- would be raised to $5 per 1,000 gallons used.
The city expects around $5 million in extra revenue for 2027 if the changes are enacted, including about $1.8 million more from residential customers.
There is another fee in the works, this one new. Clerk/Treasurer Amy Dobek introduced a request for a resolution from council to enact a 25% fee on delinquent water accounts that get tacked onto city tax bills.
Dobek called re-levying the delinquent bills "a very time consuming task." Charging a fee of 25% on what is owed will help absorb the cost of doing them, she said.
Somewhat confusingly, Dobek also called for a council resolution on the overall fee schedules -- even though council is already considering a local law to make the changes listed earlier.
She stated, "I don't think we are even charging the correct late fee based on our charter."
Woodbury reiterated an earlier statement that raising fees will improve the city's bottom line for the cost of producing water.
City Comptroller Tracy Smith-Dengler said a little later, "We simply cannot continue to run our city giving everything away."