I read on the Patch that I want to triple the Water Bills of Pt. Pleasant’s residents. First of all, why the hell would I want to do that? How exactly would that benefit me or anyone? Secondly, no one can arbitrarily raise or lower your Water Bill. There is a relatively simple formula and there are checks and balances. This does not however mean that everyone is charged on equal terms. Water charges, of all Boro issues, are possibly the most misunderstood by our residents. It is also one of the most politically charged. The fact is local politicians past and present like it this way, they like having it as a political grenade to toss at each other. Because it is so misunderstood, the fabrications and misrepresentations are difficult to refute. When it comes down to it the Boro Water is just a pawn of pathetic political self-preservationism where it’s more advantageous to tell the people what they want to hear than to tell the truth. The truth is not one single person in town is paying an accurate Water Bill and the elected are too afraid of reactionaries and reelection to be honest.
The finer points of the Water Bill are a little involved but the basic principle is easy: The Boro collects as much as it costs
to operate the utility. We can only raise through the quarterly bills how much
it costs to operate the infrastructure and the cost of however many gallons are
used. Each household’s bill has two parts, the delivery, or Ready To Serve
Charge, and the Rate multiplied by gallons used. So to illustrate lets say the
Boro has two households or “accounts”, one with 2 people in the home and one
with 6 to illustrate both ends of the spectrum, keeping in mind that 3 of every
5 homes in town has school age children and therefore leans toward the heavier
usage end of the scale. According to most estimates I found, one person uses approx.
150 gallons of water per day, here’s a rudimentary breakdown of how the bills
are calculated:
So what we can derive is that both accounts are charged the
same for delivery, which I would say makes sense, no matter who you are, where
you live, or what size house you have, the cost of access to water is the same
to any and all accounts. The second thing to note is that the rate is the same
for both households. This also makes sense to me, we are all charged the same
price just as we would at the market. If you lower your bill, you have control
over how much you use. What we also see is that the total cost for the entire
utility is $1,219.00 and that is how much the Boro is to raise through billing.
So let’s say the chart above was for 2012, lets also say that
the Boro conducts an audit and finds that $1,219.00 is correct and the “books
are balanced”; however, the audit also finds that the $80 raised through the
Ready To Serve Charge does not cover the full fixed operational costs, that the
full amount of operating the utility was in fact $250. Why should this matter?
As I said in the beginning, all households should pay the same amount for
access to this service just as we should pay the same rate. When we go to the supermarket
different products may have different prices but the same product has the same
price for everyone.
So let’s re-run the numbers in this scenario to show a Ready
To Serve Charge that fully funds the utility’s operational expenses, adjust the
Rate to balance, and see what happens to each accounts’ bill.
The first thing to note is that the total is $1218, not
$1219 because I rounded decimals. The important thing is that the Rate comes
down. Yes, that’s right, if you raise the Ready To Serve Charge, the Rate comes
down. What’s most important is how each account’s bill changes. The operational
deficit in the first chart was compensated for in the Rate, a variable factor
based on volume, therefore the more water you used the more of the deficit you
were over paying for. In essence, if the Ready To Serve Charge does not cover
the full operating expenses, the households that use the most water, 3 out of
every 5, subsidize the houses that use the least. Unless the Ready To Serve
Charge is accurate, the more you use, the more you over pay. In the second chart,
when all accounts pay equally the full operating expenses, your Bill and how
high or low it is, is 100% a matter of how much you use.
It just seems to me that a public service should come at the
same price to everyone, then it is my choice as an individual and as a consumer
what I choose to do with that service, and that I in this example, as a
conservative person can exercise control over my use and ultimately how much I
pay.
