The town of Clymer approved an implementation of a meter fee for the water district in preparation to begin preparing to pay for the planned, large-scale water system replacement. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

CLYMER — Some additional fees are incoming for Clymer residents who are part of the town’s water district.

During the town’s November meeting, the addition of a meter fee was discussed as a part of planning for the incoming, much needed, water system replacement project that has been started.

“This is kind of a newer thing for us, we’ve never really done this, quite this method before, but considering all of the changes we have upcoming in the water district I thought it was appropriate that we try and set aside its own budget, and kind of have its own hearing,” Town Supervisor, Brian Willink said.

The total current revenue for the town in sales, tax and bulk sales on an annual basis is $69,550. Appropriations, or the amount that the town is budgeting for is $85,580, meaning the town is currently operating at a $16,000 loss for the water system.

“So, there’s a lot of ways you can generate revenue off of the water district,” Willink said. “Obviously, the number one way is the water through the pipe, you can control that. What we’ve never really done, now we have a pipeline tax, so every linear foot of pipe that’s underneath the ground is taxed to the property owner that it goes under. So the system does have a tax, but what we’ve never had to my knowledge is a meter fee.”

Willink said a lot of other water districts, not just locally but across many other districts as well, have a fee that allows people the right to tap into the water system and use the town water. Willink proposed this fee due to the upcoming water system upgrade project, which is set to cost the town around $10 million at full replacement. The town currently has a $5 million grant and has applied for a few others, but due to not being sure how much grant money is going to come in and the terms of those grants, Willink said they are working on other options such as the fee.

Willink added that basing some rough numbers on the idea of the town’s water district having a $2 million share in the $10 million project, based on a 30 year payback at 0%, which is not something that is guaranteed, the town is looking at a $66,000 annual payment just to cover the $2 million bond. The town is already operating at a deficit in the system, and Willink said at the current rate they would be nowhere close to that payment.

“I think what we need to do is kind of think about this in stages,” Willink said. “Not knowing exactly what the system is going to look like or how much we’re going to be able to bite off, I’d like to propose a $10 per meter fee per month, starting in May of 2025.”

Willink would also like to see an increase of the over 40,000 gallon rate from $3.30 to $5 per 1,000 gallons. The current rate that the town charges is $5.75 for all users, which Willink said is probably fairly close to where they need to be but is probably not quite enough.

Additionally, Willink said increasing these rates and beginning a fee is probably phase one of a multiple phase approach to increasing some of the rates in the system.

“I hate to bite off more than we can chew, because we don’t know where exactly we’re going to end up on this thing, but we’re definitely going to have to raise some money, and we’re going to have to raise it through the district,” Willink said. “And, we’re going to be cautious in our approach, which is why I think this is a good first step and we’ll see what we do next year after we have another year of seeing where we’re at with the district and seeing where we’re at with the grants, and finding out where we’re at with all of the other terms.”

It was acknowledged that this system is concerning as it is old, and that the new system is a huge cost for the town that operates about 230 meters in the system. Willink said fortunately grant money is available and the town is able to tap into some of it, because 230 users cannot hope to replace a $10 million system. It was discussed that while these changes will not take effect until May because of the billing cycle, some people are going to be upset about the changes and then the board will have to remind them that without it the other option is no water and looking into how much drilling a well costs.

“We might want to have that on hand when someone does address that, because it’s going to come up,” said Melissa Murphy, town board member.

Willink added that there are some people in the water district that do have their own wells and operate like that. The costs of new wells was discussed, along with state assistance programs that might exist for water users, and that the town does qualify as a low income community, which has already helped them get some grants. Also discussed was the prices that neighboring water districts charge, which was noted to be a lot more than Clymer.

Both the implementation of the meter fee and increase in over 40,000 gallon usage rate were approved to begin May 1, 2025.

“Like I said, we’re kind of rolling into uncharted territory for some of this stuff and we’ll take it as it comes,” Willink said. “But this is a good, conservative first step.”