Residents petition county for water extensions as Eastmoor district proposes $3.86M enterprise budget

At a joint portion of the meeting, staff outlined the Eastmoor Water District's recommended FY2026 enterprise budget for Fund 6/20, balanced at $3,862,000. The recommendation includes a 3.5% increase to 3/4-inch meter base rates and per-thousand-gallon usage rates, a $364,664 transfer to the district capital reserve and a $200,000 line item for water-main extensions in the FY2026 capital-improvement plan.

Public comment followed: Shai Dubhavani (S7) and William "Bill" Murphy (S10), residents near Manor Road and Wadsworth Road, described repeated well failures, poor well water quality and elderly residents who have difficulty obtaining potable water. Dubhavani said petitioners collected signatures from nearly every household on their street and asked the board to support extending service; Murphy said multiple tests showed water quality concerns and described years of failed wells.

Staff response and process: Public Works Director Brian Patnode (S6) told the board that the two primary priorities for extensions are addressing water-quality problems (for example, dead-end lines with stagnation that can be looped) and petition-driven extensions. Any extension would be subject to a cost analysis and board approval. The district has a petition in hand and staff said they would bring specific extension proposals back to the board during the year for approval.

Next steps: The Eastmoor board called the required public hearing (scheduling was clarified in the meeting) and staff said detailed extension plans will return to the board for consideration and that petitioners will be given opportunity to speak at the public-hearing period.