Colfax approves five percent sewer rate increase

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX  —  The Colfax Village Board has approved a 5 percent increase to the village’s sewer utility rate.

The current rate is $4.29 per 1,000 gallons with an average quarterly residential bill of $152.58, said Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, at the Colfax Village Board’s December 27 meeting.

According to information Niggemann provided to the village board, raising the sewer rate by 5 percent would increase the sewer utility’s annual income by $5,238.05 per year, with the average residential bill going from $152.58 to $154.51, representing an increase of $1.93 per quarter.

The sewer utility will need additional revenue to help pay for several upcoming projects.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been working on designing a project to stabilize the Red Cedar River bank to stop the erosion and to keep the village’s wastewater treatment lagoons from washing out into the river. The total estimated cost is well over $1 million. 

While federal funds will pay for the majority of the project to stabilize the river bank, Colfax’s share could still be as much as $650,000, Niggemann noted.

Ron Verdon, president of the Tainter Menomin Lake Improvement Association, is checking with the state Department of Natural Resources to find out if there might be any grant money to help pay for the Colfax portion of the project.

Phosphorus

The village also will have to invest in irrigation equipment or build a chemical storage building at the lagoons to deal with phosphorus discharge, said Rand Bates, director of public works.

The village’s new wastewater permit issued by the state Department of Natural Resources in 2014 set the phosphorus limit at 4 milligrams per liter.

The limit for phosphorus last year and this year is 3 milligrams per liter.

Colfax initially was discharging around 8 or 10 milligrams of phosphorus per liter.

In 2013, the village began a pilot study of treating the wastewater lagoons with alum, which binds with the phosphorus and causes it to settle out to the bottom. 

The lower phosphorus limit for Colfax is part of the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for phosphorus that the DNR established for the 1900-square-mile Red Cedar Watershed.

Phosphorus run-off from the entire watershed drains into Tainter Lake and Lake Menomin, and the phosphorus from Colfax is only a small percentage of the overall load.

The soil in this area is naturally high in phosphorus, and water coming out of the tap in Colfax is already high in phosphorus.

Phosphorus is the nutrient implicated in fueling the toxic algae blooms that turn Tainter Lake and Lake Menomin a thick green color during the summer. 

For 2014, the wastewater treatment facility in Colfax received a grade of above a “B” (3.33 on a scale of 4.0), with a grade of “D” on the phosphorus section.

For 2015, the wastewater treatment facility received a grade of “A” on the phosphorus section, with an overall grade of 3.74 on a scale of 4.

If the village continues using alum to reduce the phosphorus discharge, Colfax will have to construct a building near the lagoons in which to store the chemical. The building must be equipped with a shower for village employees in case of an emergency resulting from chemical exposure as well as a chemical containment system.

Depending upon the final phosphorus limit set by the DNR, the annual cost of alum for Colfax is expected to be somewhere between $15,000 and $30,000.

Irrigation

The village also is considering eliminating wastewater discharge to the Red Cedar River all together by using the water from the lagoons to irrigate nearby farm fields.

Eliminating the discharge to the river would mean that the village would no longer have to treat the wastewater with alum to reduce the amount of phosphorus.

The village board approved hiring the engineering firm of CBS Squared as the village’s wastewater engineer in September. 

CBS Squared currently is assessing a variety of options for the village’s wastewater treatment system, including the use of irrigation. 

5 percent 

Increasing the sewer rates by 5 percent “is not out of line,” said Scott Gunnufson, village president.

The village board should review the sewer rates annually and approve the increases in small increments, Niggemann said.

In March of 2010, the Colfax Village Board approved a 25 percent sewer rate increase that had followed a 3.8 percent increase in December of 2009.

In 2008, the sewer utility experienced a deficit of $27,000.

In 2010, the 25 percent rate increase was expected to generate $31,000 annually in additional revenue for the sewer utility. 

In April of 2011, the village board approved raising the water rate 53 percent and the sewer rate by an additional 24 percent.

The sewer utility had improved on its losses and went from a $42,000 loss to an $18,500 loss as the result of the rate increase in the second quarter of 2010.

The projected budget deficit for the sewer utility for the 2015 budget was $73,927, which compared to a budget deficit of $100,686 for the 2014 budget.

The 2017 budget lists revenue for the sewer utility at $174,100, compared to expenditures of $191,000, representing a deficit of about $17,000.

Deregulated

The Colfax sewer utility is deregulated, which means the village board can increase the sewer rates without obtaining prior approval from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. 

According to the information Niggemann provided to the village board, a 25 percent rate increase would have resulted in a $9.84 increase per quarter on the average residential sewer bill to $5.36 per 1,000 gallons — or a total of $162.42 quarterly — and would have raised an additional $26,689 in revenue for the sewer utility, as compared to an additional $5,238 for the 5 percent increase.

“As long as people know what the problems are (with the sewer utility that need to be addressed), they might accept an increase better,” said Mark Halpin, village trustee.

The Colfax Village Board voted unanimously to increase the sewer rate by 5 percent. 

Village Trustee Casey Rihn was absent from the meeting.

In addition to Gunnufson and Halpin, Village Trustees Carey Davis, Dave Wolff, Anne Schieber and Keith Burcham voted in favor of the sewer rate increase.