JCSA unveils FY27 budget with $1.50 monthly fixed-charge increase and $7.5M Kings Point water-main project

The James City Service Authority on Tuesday presented a proposed FY27 budget of just over $29 million that relies entirely on user fees and funds a neighborhood-scale water-main replacement and a modest five-year capital program.

"We are solely reliant on the fees and charges that we charge our customers for the services that we provide," JCSA General Manager Doug Powell said, adding, "We don't get any revenue from the county. We're totally self sufficient." Powell framed FY27 as the first year of a two-year budget and said the proposal is guided by a five-year strategic plan adopted in February.

Powell highlighted a multiyear Kings Point project to replace roughly 20,000 feet of aging 19-inch water pipe, which he said has a total project cost of about $7,500,000; not all of that sum is budgeted in FY27. The FY27 capital improvement program is proposed at roughly $5.3 million, and Powell noted approximately $2.0 million in debt service in the FY27 plan.

Operational drivers include personnel (about 40% of the JCSA budget), non-personnel operating costs and ongoing maintenance. Powell told residents the authority has 107 full-time and one part-time employee and described priorities to address irrigation demand (estimated at about 25% of system demand), advanced metering infrastructure, pump-station improvements across 78 pump stations, replacement of an aging camera van (costs roughly $500,000) and a clay-sewer replacement grant for about 3,200 feet of pipe.

On customer-facing changes, Powell said the authority proposes to follow the recommendations of a five-year rate study. For the typical residential 5/8" meter, the fixed monthly water charge would rise by about $1.50 (from $9.32 to $10.52) and the fixed sewer charge would increase by a similar amount; the JCSA volumetric sewer charge would remain at $3.14 per 1,000 gallons while tiered water volumetric rates would see modest increases (for example, tier 1 rising from $4.45 to $4.72 per 1,000 gallons). Powell estimated that a household using 5,000 gallons a month would see a combined bill increase of about $4.56 per month in FY27.

Powell also described customer-incentive measures intended to reduce peak irrigation demand: a "Time Your Tap" outreach campaign encouraging modest per-zone irrigation reductions (about two minutes per zone) and a $75 rebate for customers who install smart irrigation controllers that adjust schedules using weather data.

Powell said JCSA expects that, even with the proposed increases, the authority would remain among the lower-cost providers in the Hampton Roads region: "If the board were to approve the rate increases that are proposed, JCSA would still be the third lowest, combined, rate for water and sewer for the 5,000 gallon a month user in the region."

During public questions Powell confirmed the four-tier volumetric structure is expected to remain in place for the multi-year rate plan and explained why some residents receive separate bills from Newport News Water Works and the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) as well as a JCSA bill for collection and treatment.

Powell closed by saying he and staff would be available after the meeting to answer follow-up questions and to provide more detail on specific capital timing and rate impacts.