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Stratford WPCA adopts amended sewer rates, lowers residential charge
Summary
At a June 2 special meeting, the Stratford Water Pollution Control Authority adopted amended FY2027 sewer-use charges, lowering the residential rate to $469.39 per year and setting commercial users at $9.77 per 100 cubic feet after an amendment by Lisa Carol Fabian passed unanimously.
The Stratford Water Pollution Control Authority on June 2 adopted amended sewer-use charges for fiscal year 2027, lowering the residential rate to $469.39 per year and setting the commercial rate at $9.77 per 100 cubic feet. The action followed a public hearing, a resident comment, and council discussion and passed unanimously by roll call.
The amendment to the originally proposed residential rate of $525 and commercial rate of $8.56 per CCF was moved by Lisa Carol Fabian and seconded by Miss Gibson. Fabian read the amendment onto the record: “I move to amend the sewer rates as proposed and move to establish sewer use fees for the fiscal year 2027 as follows: $469.39 per residential user per annum and $9.77 per 100 cubic feet, but that commercial users shall pay no less than the user fee charged to individual residential users.”
Councilmember Christopher Green described the amendment as the result of trimming an initially proposed surplus of about $400,000 and modestly increasing commercial charges so the change could “give back a $100 per residential unit” while keeping business impacts roughly level when combined with property tax effects.
Before the vote, resident Thomas Yates used the public comment period to oppose the higher rate, arguing billed units had dropped from 20,058 in 2017 to about 17,188 in the current figures and saying that discrepancy implied missing revenue. “It should be $4.50 somewhere in there and not 5 and a quarter,” Yates said, urging the town to consider accepting septic waste at an Access Road pump station to capture revenue he said now goes to Bridgeport.
Attorney Florek clarified a separate question about how the town bills the city of Shelton: Shelton pays Stratford on a flow basis, Florek said, and staff agreed to provide comparative billing information for the council to review at the next meeting.
The amendment was adopted by voice vote and then by roll call, with Christopher Green, William Boyd, Renee Gibson, Anthony Efriere, Lisa Carol Fabian, Carl Gladd and Paul Aurelia voting in favor. The meeting was adjourned at 6:13 p.m.
The WPCA posted the proposed charges for public inspection in the town clerk’s office as required; the adopted rates will be reflected in the official schedule maintained by the WPCA. Further staff follow-up was requested on intermunicipal billing and unit-count reconciliation.
