I’ve often heard the expression, “coming down the pike”, but never really thought about what connection a ‘pike’ might have to do with future events.
A ‘pike’ being, among other things, a carnivorous freshwater fish… or alternatively, a long pointed weapon historically used by infantry.
But ‘pike’, in this case, refers to a ‘turnpike’, and something coming down it. Perhaps, something not entirely welcome.
Disclosure: I currently serve on the PAWSD Board of Directors, but this editorial reflects only my own opinions, and not necessarily the opinions of other Board members nor of the Board as a whole.
I shared some of this information a month ago, although some of the numbers have changed slightly since then.
Most people in Archuleta County obtain their drinking water from the Pagosa Area Waters and Sanitation District (PAWSD)… either delivered directly to their homes and businesses through miles of water pipes, or else trucked to their homes from one of PAWSD water fill stations. The water comes mainly from Fourmile Creek (for District 1, which is PLPOA and uptown areas) or from the San Juan River (District 2, downtown and Highway 84).
Here’s a map of the district, which you can click for a larger version. The pink areas pay PAWSD for both water and sewer service, while the blue areas pay PAWSD for water service only. Some folks within the blue areas pay the Town of Pagosa Springs for sewer service; that sewage is pumped uphill to the PAWSD treatment plant on Lyn Avenue.
PAWSD is currently building a new water treatment facility on Snowball Road, to serve District 2. The new $40 million plant will essentially triple the amount of water that can be treated from the San Juan River, thus providing a higher level of water security for the community.
The plant is being funded mainly with a loan from the state of Colorado, which means three decades of loan payments by PAWSD customers.
One might wonder how such a sizable investment will affect your monthly water bill? As it turns out, the cost will likely be spread over several groups: the homeowners and business owners within the water district; the people who have vacant property and who pay an “availability fee” as defined by Colorado law; the water haulers and homeowners who use the fill stations; and people building new homes and businesses within the district. The various annual debt payments for the Water Enterprise Fund will now total about $2.9 million per year. In order to make those payments, most of the above-named groups will see their cost increase by about 3% each year for the next decade, if the Board approves the schedule proposed by the consultants from Stantec on December 14.
This will mean the typical monthly residential cost will increase from the current $54 to about $68 by 2032.
The public will be invited to share their opinions about the proposed fee increases (including water and wastewater fees) at a public hearing at the PAWSD offices on January 25 at 5pm, when the new fees may be adopted.
One group will likely see a higher fee increase. The current fees to hook up a new home to drinking water currently total about $7,600. Those fees are proposed to increase to about $11,200. That’s more than a 3% increase. More like a 47% increase.
The proposed fee increases on the wastewater side are much more severe. These higher fees are related to necessary repairs to sewer pipes, and upgrades to the Vista Treatment Plant required by the state of Colorado.
Currently, the total fee to hook up a single family home to PAWSD sewer service is $1,694.
If the Board adopts the fees recommended by Stantec, the cost to hook up a new home will be about $16,200. That’s a 1,000% increase.
The regular monthly fees will be less severe, but still unpleasant.
The current fee for a home connected to PAWSD sewer service is $32.80 per month. Next year it could be $42.64 per month, and the cost by 2032 could be $89.11 per month, if the Board adopts the Stantec fees as recommended.
The cost to local septic system owners who have their systems pumped by local waste haulers will also increase. The cost to dump sewage at the Lyn Avenue station will increase from $13.28 per 100 gallons to $17.26 per 100 gallons.
Another change that PAWSD is considering:
Stantec did a comparison of winter water usage by residential homes compared to houses used as Short-Term Rentals (STRs), and calculated that STRs are typically making a larger impact on the Vista Treatment Plant than normal residential customers. As a result, the PAWSD Board will be considering an increase to STR sewer bills of about 40%.
All of these fees are based on projected growth in the number of PAWSD customers of about 2% per year. This is a slightly higher growth rate than PAWSD has seen over the past 15 years.
Slower growth might cause the fees to be further increased.
As mentioned, PAWSD has schedule a public hearing concerning these proposed fee increases, at the PAWSD offices on January 25 at 5pm.
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.