Springdale to undergo water rate study

Springdale Council is taking a closer look at its water rates in the wake of the borough increasing rates by $1.25 per 1,000 gallons for all customers in this year’s budget.

Council on Tuesday authorized a study into the rates at a cost not to exceed $18,500. Valuation and Rate, a subsidiary of engineering firm Gannett Fleming, will perform the study, which will begin in May and last about two months.

It will provide a cost analysis of water production, distribution and rate structures, Councilman Dan Copeland said.

“This will give us a clear path and good vision with what we need to be doing to better serve the residents in our community,” Copeland said. “We decided it would be in the best interest to move forward and do the study.”

Copeland said that since the completion of the borough’s $7 million water plant in 2020, officials have not done a cost or rate analysis of water.

He said that when he was appointed to borough council last year, revenue in the water department was down nearly $700,000, so the borough enacted an ordinance setting a level rate for all water usage in Springdale.

Council also set a temporary rate of $7.50 per 1,000 gallons that will go into effect for industrial customers once they surpass 25 million gallons of water usage.

That rate, which will last three months, until the water study is complete, was set using last year’s production cost, Copeland said. Once the study is complete, he said, council can reassess the rates.

“This study is going to be able to tell us what kinds of rates we need to have that will … generate revenue to the borough and be fair to the customers,” Copeland said.