Elizabethtown council approves multi-year sewer-rate increases, raises hauled-waste fees

The Elizabethtown City Council on April 7 adopted an ordinance repealing and replacing the city's previous sewer-rate ordinance and establishing a multi-year schedule of rate increases and revised fees for hauled waste and connections.

According to language read into the record, the monthly sewer charge on the first 2,000 gallons will be $14.46 beginning July 1, 2025; $16.70 beginning July 1, 2026; $18.95 beginning July 1, 2027; and $19.52 beginning July 1, 2028. The ordinance also raises surcharges for hauled waste: leachate from the Pearl Hollow Landfill will be charged $28.15 per ton and hauled waste from other sources will be charged $38.36 per ton. Connection fees were increased: a single-family residential connection fee was set at $1,500; multi-family connections were set at $2,000 per building plus $300 per unit. The record also lists nonresidential connection fees and a significant-industrial-user fee, but the transcript summary of the square-footage brackets was not read in a fully consistent way; the full fee schedule is available in the city clerk9s office.

Council members asked staff questions during discussion. One council member noted the city had received about 12 in. of rain earlier that week and asked about how increased hauled-waste volumes have affected plant operations. City staff said the plant has seen an increase in haulers from about four several years ago to about 12 recently. Staff said the increase in hauled-waste volumes and the costs to treat higher-strength wastes informed the decision to raise hauled-waste rates and to schedule annual increases in the base monthly charge for the next several years.

A council member asked whether the city had considered offering businesses a discount to in-city customers versus out-of-city haulers; staff responded that the city9s prior policy limited acceptance to within city limits but that policy had changed to accept county haulers and that recent volumes have become a larger burden, prompting the rate adjustments.

The ordinance passed on a roll-call vote: Council Member Springsteen, Council Member Jones, Council Member Hazitz, and Council Member Bishop voted yes; Council Member Fulkerson voted no. The council recorded the result as the motion carries.

The council said it built annual increases into the schedule to give time for another study near the end of the multiyear plan and to reduce the scale of future single-year jumps. Officials said the city had not materially updated these rates since the early 2000s and that the increases bring the city more in line with surrounding communities.

The full ordinance text and the complete rate schedule were not read verbatim; copies are available from the city clerk's office for residents and businesses seeking the exact fee brackets and implementation details.