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Sewer board weighs billing policy for vacant lots, schedules rate review and seeks engineering input
Summary
Board members discussed billing for vacant lots, the effect of leans on resale, and the need for an engineering assessment and a rate study with REI Financial to set fair rates and plan capital work; no policy change was adopted.
Board members raised questions about empty lots that have sewer hookups but no structures and whether the district should continue billing or pause collection until the lots are developed.
"I went through several of them and looked up the sizes of the lots and compared them to other lots that have structures on them," said the manager, noting four lots are currently in question and that some lots were originally created when streets were platted decades ago.
Members noted that charging construction-tied costs to undeveloped parcels can create large leans that make the parcels difficult to redevelop. One board member suggested temporarily suspending billing for vacant lots until prospective buyers act, but others cautioned that dropping those accounts would shift costs to other ratepayers and that policy choices should follow legal and financial review.
The board agreed it needs updated financial numbers before deciding. Members asked to schedule a public rate hearing with REI Financial and to obtain an engineering assessment of the system’s condition, pointing to system features described in meeting remarks: the district’s main construction took place in 2005–2007, the system includes about 90 manholes and roughly 20,000 feet of pipe, five grinder stations and two lift stations that pump to the city of North Vernon.
"Whenever you look at rates you’re going to take information from an engineer, your operations people and then feed that information to a rate consultant," one board member said, urging an engineer-driven capital plan so the board can avoid emergency rate changes later.
During the manager’s financial report the manager read a total figure for outstanding leans from meeting materials (printed in the record as "348389"); board members read that as about $34,000 in outstanding leans and asked staff to email the board the full ledger for review.
The board also discussed a disputed contractor invoice for work a homeowner authorized directly on a grinder pump, saying the district typically does not pay customer-authorized invoices and that the manager would attempt to negotiate with the contractor before the board takes further action.
No formal policy was adopted on vacant lots; the board asked the attorney to review legal constraints and for staff to provide refined counts and costs ahead of a future meeting.
