While getting a 9% increase to sewer costs each year can be another costly pinch when so many things are pinching the wallet of Newtown residents, the town is charting a course towards getting the sewer fund solvent once again while not putting everything on its users at once.

At a recent Legislative Council meeting, Finance Director Glenys Salas reported that there needs to be an operating surplus for sewer of $100,000 per year until June of 2037 to pay back the total deficit to the town’s general fund while keeping up with current and upcoming costs.

Salas stated at the meeting she believes the mistake that may have been made in the past when there was an assumption that the fund had money was that users of the financial statements were looking at unrestricted net position thinking that it is similar to the unassigned fund balance. Public Works Director Fred Hurley also pointed towards the fact that the Water & Sewer Authority had previously asked for the water fund and the sewer fund to receive “separate checkbooks,” but were “told no” because having them together was considered easier at the time.

Salas noted that there were inaccurate estimates of costs required to run the system and insufficient levies to run the system.

“The rate was not high enough” as set by the Water & Sewer Authority, according to Salas. Hurley said the “blinding of the Water & Sewer Authority” happened because they were running their benefit assessment money in with their user money, the checkbook looked OK, and they did not see the need for sewer rate increases.

However the disparity between revenue and expenses came about, the time for pointing fingers is long past and the time to fix the problem is now. It is always a more valuable approach to solve problems rather than worry who to point the finger at, unless a problem is recurring.

On the plus side, Hurley noted that “things are on the right track” and that additional revenues coming in from interest, as reported previously, are speeding up the timeline and possibly lowering future rate increases. Additionally, new sewer hookups from developments could offset the need for rate hikes in the future as well.

The sewer customers saw a 9% increase last year. There is a 9% increase this year and next year. Moving forward there needs to be CPI increases regularly. This is essential to stay at the operational surplus.

The water fund has tended to run a bit of a surplus and there’s a 6% fee increase anticipated for 2026. But, if there are no more operating surpluses after FY26 the water fund will eventually repay the general fund by June 2038.