We understand that no one welcomes an increase in water and sewer rates, and we want to be open and honest about why this adjustment is necessary.

Our duty as a county is to ensure that every household and business connected to the system has safe, reliable and affordable service. After careful review, we must adjust rates to keep that promise. We must also think about not leaving future generations with these infrastructure issues. Nobody will want to move to a community with poor infrastructure.

To put this into perspective, sewer rates have not been raised since 2009. That means for 16 years, sewer rates have remained flat while costs have continued to rise. The new adjustment amounts to an average increase per customer of under $12 per month — spread across 16 years, that equals to less than $1 per year. During the same period, more than $31 million has been invested in upgrades and rehabilitation throughout the sewer system to maintain reliable service and comply with environmental standards.

It might be helpful to explain how public water and sewer services are funded. They operate through an enterprise fund, which is self-supporting. This means revenue comes only from the customers who use the system, not from property taxes or other county revenues. By law, every dollar collected stays in the fund and is reinvested directly into operations, maintenance and improvement. Those who use the system pay for the service.

The county water and sewer system has approximately 8,000 water customers and 3,600 sewer customers, with 300 miles of water mains, 1,500 fire hydrants, 18 water tanks, eight water pump stations, eight sewage treatment plants, 43 sewer pump stations and more than 60 water pressure-reducing valves, all in need of service. In comparison, the Dayton water system has 160,000 customers who can share the costs of their water and sewer systems.

Customer revenues must cover not only operating costs, but debt payments for past projects — currently about $1 million each year.

In 2024, the county commissioners contributed more than $600,000 from the county’s general fund to help cover sewer department debt due to revenue shortfalls. In effect, taxpayers across the county, most of whom are not connected to the sewer system, helped subsidize the 3,600 customers who are on it. That is not fair to the residents who do not benefit from the service.

We also want to clarify a common misunderstanding about tap-in fees: By law, customers pay a one-time tap-in fee to cover the cost of physically connecting their property to the system. Some believe that paying this fee means they have permanently contributed to infrastructure costs. In reality, the tap-in fee only covers the cost of connection. The ongoing costs of running, repairing and upgrading the system are funded through monthly rates. Put simply: The tap-in fee gets you connected — the monthly rate keeps the system working.

This adjustment is about more than today’s expenses — it is about securing the future of our system. Reliable water and sewer service protects public health, safeguards our environment and supports local economic growth. By making modest investments now, we prevent larger and more costly problems later.

We remain committed to seeking state and federal grants, exploring every outside funding source and holding ourselves accountable so that every dollar collected is reinvested into strengthening our water and sewer system.

Thank you for your understanding and support as we work to ensure safe, reliable and sustainable services for our county.

(Morelli, Kleineke and Timmons are Jefferson County commissioners)