MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Citing the amount of debt the district has had to incur for capital projects, Jim Ouellet, Executive Director of the Berkeley County Water District said water service customers will see a significant increase in their monthly bills, beginning next month.
The 23.5 percent across the board increase is part of a five-year rate increase process. It will affect approximately 26,500 customers.
“Based upon consumption of 3,400 gallons, right now it’s about $37.90 for that,” Ouellet said in a presentation before the Berkeley County Commission Thursday. “It will be going up to $46.70.”
“The typical user will see an $8.80 increase in their water bill starting in July.”
Ouellet said the water district incurred a lot of debt. “The largest variable that’s changed is the fact that we’ve incurred in all this debt in order to build all these capital projects.”
“It actually increased $5.1 million for the year,” Ouellet said. “We now have an annual debt of $12.4 million that we have to service on an annual basis due to all the borrowing that we’ve had to do in order to keep up with all the growth.”
The latest increase is the largest jump in the five-year incremental increase plan.
Ouellet said the cost for the average home should plateau around $52 over the next few years.
Here the excerpt from Ouellet’s presentation to the Berkeley County Commission here:
