Rockville Centre hikes water rates

Village water rates are increasing to pay the debt service on water improvement projects, which include water main replacements and a new iron-filtration plant.

Christina Daly/Herald

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Rockville Centre water rates are set to increase this year and next. The first hike, 14.7 percent, will go into effect on June 1.

Village officials say that the increases are needed to cover increasing debt on bonds that were issued for water infrastructure projects, including a new iron-filtration plant and water main replacements. The village is also adding a 1 percent charge to water bills to cover payments in lieu of taxes that village utilities make to the general fund. So, if a resident has a water bill of $100, it will list an additional charge of $1. Up to now, the village’s water budget has covered this cost.

“There have been numerous expenditure increases over the last seven years that have necessitated these water rate increases,” Village Comptroller Michael Schussheim explained. “The most significant of those increases relates to debt service, which in the current fiscal year totals $1.57 million, and next fiscal year becomes $1.99 million. The increased debt service is an outgrowth of the village’s aggressive capital improvement program, and includes the construction of a new iron-filtration plant.”

In the fiscal year starting in 2017, debt service is expected to increase by another $350,000. The second water rate increase, 7.7 percent, will go into effect on June 1, 2017.

The last time rates increased was in 2009, when they jumped 17.5 percent to make up for a shortfall in the water budget due to less usage. The rates dropped 5 percent the following year because there were excess funds.

According to Schussheim, the average homeowner currently uses 130,000 gallons of water in a year, which costs about $404. With the rate increases, that average will rise to $468, and then $504.

In the village of Freeport, the same amount of water would cost $521.50. American Water, which supplies many of the communities surrounding Rockville Centre, said that the average annual bill, based on a 5/8” water meter, is $675.94.