The Bear Creek Water and Sanitation District Board pf Directors recommended at the November 9, 2020 Board Meeting
that that the annual sanitary sewer rates not be increased for 2021.
- The 2021 Annual Sanitary Sewer Rate is $16.60 per thousand gallons of water used from November 2020 through February 2021.
- The 2021 Residential Annual Minimum will be $229.00 and billed at $57.25 per quarter.
- The 2021 Commercial Annual Minimum will be $397.00 and billed at $99.25 per quarter.
- The billing cycle for 2021will continue to be billed quarterly by dividing the annual bill into quarterly installments.
The Board of Directors also recommended that the $6.00 per month per SFRE water surcharge to the Denver Water billing would be sufficient to pay for planned capital improvement projects and operations and maintenance of the water system and was not increased for 2021.
Preceding this recommendation, the Board has identified and engaged in a deliberative process to prepare the 2021 budgets and has considered the following factors in the process of setting appropriate water and sanitary sewer rates:
- The District has engaged an external consultant, Christina Griggs of GEMSBOK Consulting to develop a fiscal planning tool to assist the District in long-term planning budgeting and to determine future capital needs of the District. A Rate Study Update was performed in 2019 by Raftelis Financial Consultants.
- Operations and maintenance needs of the District-owned water and sanitary sewer systems which includes such projects as replacement or relining of sanitary sewer lines and the major repair or replacement of water distribution lines.
- The District’s Master Plan which was updated in 2018
- Capital Improvement Projects and Long-Term Planning
- Historical considerations
The District will continue to review the sewer rates and the water surcharge amount each year to determine if a rate increase is necessary.