Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Water And Sewer Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
New Water details major sewer rehab program and forecasts 6.6% municipal fee increase for 2026
Summary
New Water presented its facility plan and 2026 budget to the Suamico Village Board, highlighting aging interceptors and treatment plants, multi‑year capital projects and a municipal user fee increase targeted at 6.6% with use of roughly $600,000 in plant reserves to mitigate near‑term rate impacts.
New Water Executive Director Nathan Qualls told the Suamico Village Board on Dec. 15 that the utility is shifting from planning into implementation on a slate of large wastewater projects to address aging interceptors and treatment‑plant equipment.
“New Water is on the wastewater conveyance and treatment side, not on the potable water side,” Qualls said, describing projects that include downtown and East River interceptor renewals, North Plant clarifier rehabilitation and thickening improvements. He said some interceptor segments date to the 1930s and numerous plant components have been in service since the mid‑1970s and early 1980s.
Qualls said the utility is balancing capacity, aging‑infrastructure replacement and optimization to reduce energy and chemical use. He highlighted construction underway in downtown Green Bay and temporary bypass piping to maintain flows while crews rehabilitate gravity sewers; he also showed cured‑in‑place liner technology used to restore pipes. “Fifty plus years, after completion,” Qualls said when asked about the life expectancy for cured‑in‑place sewer lining.
On the budget, Qualls said the utility is approaching a roughly 50/50 split between operations & maintenance and debt service/capital and that financing the capital program is the primary driver of cost increases. For 2026, New Water is targeting a municipal user fee increase of 6.6% and plans to use about $600,000 of plant capital reserves to reduce the immediate fee impact. He said O&M expenses are projected to rise about 2.8% year to year while debt service and annual capital are driving a larger increase (noted as 12.8% in the presentation).
Qualls also cited a national metric from the National Association of Clean Water Agencies showing wastewater costs outpacing the consumer price index and provided a rough household cost metric: “approximately what the cost of New Water services are to a typical household, and that comes to about $28 per month,” which he said is a per‑household framing and not the municipal charge to residents.
Board members asked about the reserve runway and whether reserves would be replenished. Qualls said current projections show reserves lasting into the 2030s (he said “about 2035”) but cautioned that uncertainty increases beyond a five‑year horizon. He said reserves are replenished from net year‑end balances if revenues exceed expenses and that the utility works with municipalities on what the community can afford when setting municipal user fees.
The presentation did not request or record formal board action; members thanked the New Water team for the briefing and moved on to other agenda items.
