Burton BPA Considers Senior Budget Billing
March 22, 2018 by Ann Wishart

Seniors in Burton Village could have fewer waves in their water bills if the village board of public affairs institutes budget billing for them.

Seniors in Burton Village could have fewer waves in their water bills if the village board of public affairs institutes budget billing for them.

Burton Village Council President Jeremy Neill proposed at the March 13 meeting the village give seniors a break on their village utilities so as not to swamp them.

“I don’t like to see people sweating over bills, (people who) are usually good, on-time payers,” he said, adding the base rate of $60 would be a good target.

Village Deputy Fiscal Officer Lisa Hernandez said the gas company has a similar service for seniors.

If they regularly use more than the base rate, their monthly budget increases the following year, she said.

The village could look at a senior’s prior year’s bill, annualize it and create a payment plan for them, said Fiscal Officer Chris Paquette.

“We could definitely do budget billing,” said council member Curt Johnson.

Neill said the board and administration should study the matter and discuss it again at a future meeting.

The board also agreed to set a fee of $50 for water customers asking to have a second 90-day reading when they suspect their water meters are not correct or that they may have a water leak somewhere.

The first 90-day reading of the meter to discover usage is free for each customer, Neill said, adding the village has been changing out the older meters for electronic meters that can be read by the village employee from his or her vehicle on the road.

The fee will cover the cost of a village employee taking the reading and doing the paperwork, he said.

Four of the newer meters have ceased to record water flow and the company has been asked to evaluate what caused the malfunction, Neill said.

The meters are designed to allow water to flow even if the mechanism to record it is broken, Neill said.

The meter to Warren’s Spirited Kitchen on the square has not been recording for a while, but the other three were only a month or so in arrears, Hernandez said. Johnson said he will talk to the owner of the restaurant.

All four meters have been replaced, Neill said.

The board discussed the ability of the village to supply water and sewer to the proposed Berkshire pre-K–grade-12 school on the Kent State University – Geauga campus north of the village.

Neill said the 150,000-gallon tower has enough water storage to provide every-day water supply to school and village, but not enough for fire suppression in the new building, as required by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations.

Village Engineer Chip Hess said the village wells produce about 100,000 gallons a day, but that is not the issue.

“We have the capacity, but can we get it there fast enough?” he said.

The school will be more than a mile from the wells and tower and the elevation is the same, so supplying a sprinkler system might require an additional pumping station.

Mayor Jim Koster said there is still time to plan infrastructure changes to accommodate the school.

If the district passes the levy, builds the new school and decides to sell the properties in the village, as planned, they first have to be offered for sale to non-public schools.

If there are no buyers, the district can sell the properties to individuals, he said.

Also, it will be about three years from groundbreaking to opening the school doors, so there is time for the village to join the conversation, Koster said.

“What’s going to happen in the future is going to impact (the village) 100 percent,” he said, adding the meeting on March 14 between the BPA and the school-planning group will open communication between the two entities.

The board also signed an agreement with the wastewater treatment plant’s design/build firm Arcadis LLC to include construction oversight service.

The charge of about $600,000 for the oversight service will be rolled into the loan for the entire project of about $13 million, Paquette said.