NAWILIWILI — The Kaua‘i County Council recently passed a bill to allow wastewater fees to gradually increase over the next few years. The move is expected to make the Wastewater Division’s revenues surpass operational costs by 2012 and help it
NAWILIWILI — The Kaua‘i County Council recently passed a bill to allow wastewater fees to gradually increase over the next few years.
The move is expected to make the Wastewater Division’s revenues surpass operational costs by 2012 and help it catch up on debt over the next five years.
Homeowners can still spend a whole year taking showers, flushing toilets and washing dishes at their current rates; the effective date for the increase is July 1, 2011.
Currently the monthly fee for single-family and multi-family homes is $45, which has not increased since 2004, officials said.
The fees for single-family homes will increase to $47.86 monthly, and multi-family homes’ rates will increase to $45.95 the first year. Both fees will then gradually climb until 2015, when they will be $60.09 and $50.03, respectively.
The increase will also affect commercial structures, which pay for thousands of gallons of metered-
water used. The commercial-rate increase, like the homeowners’, will gradually climb each year until Fiscal Year 2014, which ends June 30, 2015.
By FY14, sewer rates for schools will increase to $3.89 per thousand gallons. Schools currently pay $3.06.
Group I, which includes offices, will see their rates increase to $5.56 from $4.26.
Group II, which includes places of mixed water-use such as hospitals, will pay $8.56. Users in this group currently pay $5.74.
Hotels and resorts without restaurants will see their fees increase to $6.05 from $4.91.
Hotels and resorts that have restaurants will pay more. Their fees will increase to $11.13 from $6.34.
Restaurants will face the biggest impact. Their fees will increase to $17 from $10.08.
All of these numbers reflect the fees that businesses will be paying by FY14, after annual step increases.
The county’s existing loan agreement for using federal funds for projects requires that a user-charge system has to produce adequate revenue to pay for maintenance and operation.
In 2006, the revenues went bellow the debt service for the first time, with both set at just under $7 million. The operational costs that year, however, were set at bellow $6 million, still well below the revenues.
Last year, the operational costs surpassed the revenues for the first time, by roughly $1 million. This year, the revenues have increased slightly, while the operational costs decreased, allowing for both numbers to hover in the same neighborhood.
Next year, the revenues and operational costs will continue to stay close.
By 2012, the operational costs will soar over $8 million, but the increasing revenues will finally be allowed to surpass the operational costs.
By 2015, the operational costs are projected to reach between $9 million and $10 million, and the debt service is projected to reach between $13 million and $14 million. In that year the revenues will finally catch up with the debt service.
This measure will only affect properties that use wastewater systems. Most homes on Kaua‘i use a cesspool or a septic tank for wastewater collection.
Neighborhoods that will be affected by this measure are Waimea, Hanapepe, ‘Ele‘ele, Lihu‘e, Kapa‘a and Hanama‘ulu.
But even in these neighborhoods not all of the properties may be affected, only those connected to the wastewater system.
Go to www.kauai.gov/publicworks/wastewater for more information.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@kauaipubco.com.
