During last week’s special meeting of the Bristol Borough Water and Sewer Authority board, nearly 80 residents turned out to voice their irritation over the recent water rate increase and hear the board’s reasoning for the increase.
At the meeting, Board Chairperson Rosemarie Mignoni-Szucki announced that there would be a tour of the sewer plant. Over the weekend, five residents turned out for the tour of the plant.
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Meeting in the parking lot behind Mill Street, the tourists were loaded onto a school bus that took them to the Sewer Plant. A short ride later, they met with Tom Wallick, who has been with the sewer department since 1998, to begin the tour. All three full time members of the authority were present to walk the guests through the facility and show them how everything worked. The sprawling complex took nearly three hours to cover, but by the end, it seemed like the residents had a greater understanding about the need for the rate hike.
At the end of the tour, council member Jose Acevedo noted, “this is a lot of equipment for three guys.” The members of the department agreed. It is obvious that a lot of the equipment needs renovations, such as the wall holding up the trickle filter system and two of the essential bio disks, which seemed to be cracked in the middle.
“The authority is in a no-win situation, because it’s a 100 percent increase, but look at how many years we went without an increase,” Wallick said towards the end of the tour.
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Residents questioned Mignoni-Szucki on the value of the plant if it were to be sold, and Mignoni replied that the plant should not be on the auction block, in her opinion. According to Mignoni, the board views the rate increase as an investment for the next three to five years.
A common complaint from last week’s meeting was the idea that the board has not been doing anything for the plant, and that the plant has been continuously deteriorating, making the sudden increase necessary. The tour, however, made it obvious that repairs and maintenance have been performed in recent years, including the new building for the central part of the plant.
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“We haven’t been sitting around. We need maintenance, but the time for them was not 10 years ago,” Mingoni said.
The commotion surrounding the authority arose from a sudden increase in water rates, from a base rate of $40.50 to $81. The 100 percent increase came at short notice and was retroactive for the last quarter of 2015.
