It’s the time of the year when local governments are drafting budget proposals and allocating funds, and that same atmosphere applies over at OWASA as public hearings are being held and announcements are made regarding the future of water service in Orange County.

This month on “Wonderful Water,” join 97.9 The Hill’s Brighton McConnell for a conversation with Stephen Winters, director of finance and customer service at OWASA, about the future outlook and cost of service at the level OWASA customers are used to.

“We’re funded through rates and fees charged for our services,” said Winters. “That’s that’s our only source of revenue, and that means we don’t collect any tax money or our money from the towns or the county. Our budget covers operating expenses, personnel costs and investing in water and sewer infrastructure throughout the community.”

The OWASA Board of Directors will hold virtual public hearings on Thursday, May 12, on the proposed budget and rate adjustment for Fiscal Year 2023. Next year’s budget will pay for investments necessary to provide water and sewer service and protect the environment and public health, including the retention of a highly skilled and dedicated workforce.

“One thing that’s unusual this year is that we are having a rate increase and it’s larger than we’ve had in recent years. To meet the needs of that budget, we’re actually proposing a 16% rate increase. … A year ago, we projected that we would need to raise rates by 7% this year, but several things have impacted our budget recently,” said Winters. “A lot of these are familiar to everyone because they’re very common challenges.

According to OWASA statistics, a 16% increase in rates will raise the average residential bill for 4,000 gallons of water and sewer service by $12.71 to $92.17. The public hearing on the budget proposal scheduled for May 12 will be discussing adjusted rates going into effect on October 1, 2022.

“The inflation rate is currently over 8% and it’s impacting the cost of the supplies we need to treat water and wastewater,” said Winters. “It’s also impacting construction costs in a pretty dramatic way, and we incur construction costs when we’re repairing and replacing infrastructure throughout the community that’s aging and reaching the end of its useful life. … It’s a bigger raise than we had projected, but it’s important for everyone to know that we’re always looking for ways to save costs and find new solutions, you know, just as long as they don’t impact the level of services that we can provide.”

You can listen below to the full conversation below, and visit the Wonderful Water page here for more interviews and stories about the work OWASA does in our community.

Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents use roughly 7 million gallons of water a day, and “Wonderful Water” is a monthly conversation sponsored by the Orange Water and Sewer Authority highlighting its work to keep our community growing and water flowing.

 

 

 

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