Barclay Sewer hearing: county proposes rate changes to close $30,000 annual shortfall

Public Works Director Alan Quimby presented the Barclay Sewer Subdistrict rate schedule and financials, saying annual expenditures are about $135,000 while revenue is about $105,000 — a roughly $30,000 shortfall on 99 accounts. Quimby said the sanitary district is an enterprise fund that receives no county tax dollars; its rates must cover operating costs and debt service. He described existing rate components (ready‑to‑serve, O&M, pump fee) and proposed changes: a $2 monthly customer charge under county billing, moving the ready‑to‑serve fee from a per‑account to a per‑EDU basis (which would not affect single‑family homes but could affect multi‑unit properties), an O&M increase that equates to about $8 per month for a single‑family home, no change to the pump fee, and a 5% annual escalator effective 07/01/2027 for certain charges.

Quimby said the intent of the increases is to reach breakeven and that the proposed changes will not build reserves. During public comment, Robin McKinney, a Berkeley commissioner, asked the board to give the town more time to grow EDUs and disputed statements about pump warranty length (she said she was told warranties were 10 years, not five). Staff said applications for the ready‑to‑serve exemption would be reviewed by the comptroller for income verification and that qualifying customers could see substantially lower bills — Quimby gave a worked example that a qualifying single‑family home’s bill could drop from $102.54 to $63.66 under the exemption. The board left the hearing record open for two weeks for additional written comments.