Water Sports

2009 July 22
tags:
by Chuck Shotton

calvinIn an ongoing attempt to keep Leesburg residents up to date on what is going on with the water and sewer rate donnybrook, we offer the following email correspondence which was sent to residents of Potomac Station over the weekend. It contains some interesting information about the rate proposals and the ongoing legal struggle between the town and out of town residents over the water and sewer rates. It also provides an interesting view of the tactics of our neighbors who are suing the town. (Just remember who we have to thank for yet another lawsuit against Leesburg…not our neighbors!)

Subject: Important! Update on Leesburg Water and Sewer Rate Activities
To All Potomac Station Residents:
The following message was sent to our Board president, Henry Twentier, over the weekend by Brian Shiflett, our primary contact person for the utility rate lawsuit.  You will note that the Town Council’s proposed rate structure will affect both our Town and County residents. We encourage EVERYONE to contact Leesburg Town Council members, attend the public hearing next Tuesday, July 28, and/or discuss this issue with your neighbors who may not have Potomac Station website accounts.
———-
Just to let you know, today [Friday, 7/17] is the day the Town of Leesburg is due to file their petition for appeal with the Virginia Supreme Court.  Earlier this week, the Town Attorney reiterated that the Town is planning to file the petition for appeal as part of their two-track response to the April 17, 2009 Circuit Court order.  Assuming no change in the Town’s plans, we’ll have copies of the petition for appeal distributed in the next couple of days.  The other track is the rate adjustment activity that is now taking place in Town Hall.  Monday [7/13] night’s Town Council work session was the first public discussion of the Town’s rate making plans and consultant’s recommendations.  The Town retained Draper Aden Associates to perform a new rate study, one that will produce rates that the Town Council plans to approve August 11 in time to meet the September 1 date when the Town can no longer enforce its current rate schedule.
The Town plans to run a public notice in the Loudoun Times Mirror [this] Wednesday, July 22, which will advertise a set of proposed water and sewer rates and will invite public comment on those proposed rates at a public hearing on Tuesday, July 28.  We do not know what exactly the Town will propose, but on Monday night [7/13], the Town Attorney put the following numbers out for Town Council consideration (all of these numbers represent percentage increases over the current rates):
In Town Water Usage: +36%
In-Town Sewer Usage: +44%
Out-of-Town Water Usage: +10%
Out-of-Town Sewer Usage: +60%
Fixed Charges, Water and Sewer (all customer classes): +15%
Naturally, one will take offence at these numbers, depending on their perspective.  In-town customers will be shocked at the level of proposed increases in their rates, considering they just went through four annual increases beginning in 2006.  Out-of-town customers will wonder how these significant increases comply with the recent court order to decrease out-of-town rates.  Well, the Town believes that by simply doing another rate study, using the ‘utility method’ to calculate out-of-town rates, is sufficient to comply with the court order.  I think you can understand that they heaped a lot of crap on the cost pile to come up with the new set of out-of-town rates.  Our legal counsel has seen the video of the Town Council discussion, and they have a transcript of some of the more offensive portions of the rate presentation.  I will not delve any further into our legal strategy in this email.
We do need to begin communicating with our neighbors that they need to make their opinions heard by the Town Council on or before July 28. They can do so by submitting emails to the Town Council or speaking in person at the public hearing.  There is information and contacts posted on www.fairwaterrates.com.  Folks might look to us to guidance about what to say to the Town Council members.  Others may chime in, but in my opinion, the Town’s out-of- town rate proposal does not comply with the court order, because it is not consistent with the findings of the Court in the water rate case.  Obviously the Town thinks they have some sneaky legal tricks up their sleeve.  We need to tell the Town Council that the proposed rates are still unfair, unreasonable and inequitable.  We need to tell them to stop violating the law.  They need to know the out-of-towners still have fight in them.  While largely symbolic, our protest is necessary.  Thanks for your help in getting the word out.
Brian Shiflett
Representative of Loudoun Fair Water

Subject: Important! Update on Leesburg Water and Sewer Rate Activities

To All Potomac Station Residents:

The following message was sent to our Board president, Henry Twentier, over the weekend by Brian Shiflett, our primary contact person for the utility rate lawsuit.  You will note that the Town Council’s proposed rate structure will affect both our Town and County residents. We encourage EVERYONE to contact Leesburg Town Council members, attend the public hearing next Tuesday, July 28, and/or discuss this issue with your neighbors who may not have Potomac Station website accounts.

———-

Just to let you know, today [Friday, 7/17] is the day the Town of Leesburg is due to file their petition for appeal with the Virginia Supreme Court.  Earlier this week, the Town Attorney reiterated that the Town is planning to file the petition for appeal as part of their two-track response to the April 17, 2009 Circuit Court order.  Assuming no change in the Town’s plans, we’ll have copies of the petition for appeal distributed in the next couple of days.  The other track is the rate adjustment activity that is now taking place in Town Hall.  Monday [7/13] night’s Town Council work session was the first public discussion of the Town’s rate making plans and consultant’s recommendations.  The Town retained Draper Aden Associates to perform a new rate study, one that will produce rates that the Town Council plans to approve August 11 in time to meet the September 1 date when the Town can no longer enforce its current rate schedule.

The Town plans to run a public notice in the Loudoun Times Mirror [this] Wednesday, July 22, which will advertise a set of proposed water and sewer rates and will invite public comment on those proposed rates at a public hearing on Tuesday, July 28.  We do not know what exactly the Town will propose, but on Monday night [7/13], the Town Attorney put the following numbers out for Town Council consideration (all of these numbers represent percentage increases over the current rates):

In Town Water Usage: +36%
In-Town Sewer Usage: +44%

Out-of-Town Water Usage: +10%
Out-of-Town Sewer Usage: +60%

Fixed Charges, Water and Sewer (all customer classes): +15%

Naturally, one will take offence at these numbers, depending on their perspective.  In-town customers will be shocked at the level of proposed increases in their rates, considering they just went through four annual increases beginning in 2006.  Out-of-town customers will wonder how these significant increases comply with the recent court order to decrease out-of-town rates.  Well, the Town believes that by simply doing another rate study, using the ‘utility method’ to calculate out-of-town rates, is sufficient to comply with the court order.  I think you can understand that they heaped a lot of crap on the cost pile to come up with the new set of out-of-town rates.  Our legal counsel has seen the video of the Town Council discussion, and they have a transcript of some of the more offensive portions of the rate presentation.  I will not delve any further into our legal strategy in this email.

We do need to begin communicating with our neighbors that they need to make their opinions heard by the Town Council on or before July 28. They can do so by submitting emails to the Town Council or speaking in person at the public hearing.  There is information and contacts posted on www.fairwaterrates.com.  Folks might look to us to guidance about what to say to the Town Council members.  Others may chime in, but in my opinion, the Town’s out-of- town rate proposal does not comply with the court order, because it is not consistent with the findings of the Court in the water rate case.  Obviously the Town thinks they have some sneaky legal tricks up their sleeve.  We need to tell the Town Council that the proposed rates are still unfair, unreasonable and inequitable.  We need to tell them to stop violating the law.  They need to know the out-of-towners still have fight in them.  While largely symbolic, our protest is necessary.  Thanks for your help in getting the word out.

Brian Shiflett
Representative of Loudoun Fair Water

from → Local Government

3 Responses
  1. 9:50pm July 29 2009
    Ken Reid permalink

    I won’t be voting for higher rates either. We need to cut expenses and look for new revenue, such as partnering with Loudoun Water. It would be good for Leesburg town residents to speak at the public hearing Aug. 11, 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, because the only folks who spoke last night were out-of-town customers.

    Ken

  2. 8:38am July 26 2009
    Tom Dunn permalink

    I did not support the appeal because of the rates. I supported it because the judicial branch of government should not be able to dictate what elected officials should do. Had the judge just ruled that Leesburg’s rates were out of line and should be changed, I would not have supported the appeal. However, when the judge dictated legislative action by SETTING the rates, it is in my humble view that he over stepped his bounds. So for me this is a Constitutional issue not a financial issue. Now onto the real point of the issue.

    I will not vote for any increases until town staff can get their spending in line.
    I am asking town staff to cut their budget in order to make up for shortfalls in funding. I am also asking staff to go out and find additional customers by recruiting high water usage customers such as restaurants. I am also suggesting that we sell much needed water west of town. And I am suggesting that we look at creating a Water Authority with the County.
    This mess was brought on by the Council’s before me. The Mayor and Council members Martinez and Hammler voted to increase the utility size to handle increase customers moving in around our borders. But at the same time they (mostly the Mayor) voted against development that would bring in the new customers. And even now the Mayor opposes selling water to the western part of the county, which really needs it. Yet the Mayor says we have a financial responsibility to look at higher rates. She should have considered this years ago. So now we have to pay off debt on facilities that are just 60% of full usage. Additionally, one of these Councilmen said HE didn’t know what HE was voting for when approving the increase plant.
    I will not vote for higher rates to bailout any of these foolish moves by earlier Councils (and 3 current members) who lacked and continue to lack foresight and sound leadership.
    Tom Dunn
    Leesburg Town Council

    • 9:09am July 26 2009
      Chuck Shotton permalink

      After spending months and months wading through the financials of the Utility fund, touring the water and sewer plants, and looking at the recently completed as well as ongoing construction, I have to say that unnecessary capital expenses account for a vast majority of the shortfall.

      Operational costs to produce water beyond the needs of the town are negligible, so whether the plant operates at 50% or 100% (which it cannot legally do for more than a few days), the costs of creating clean water are somewhat fixed. Selling this excess capacity to new customers would essentially be “free money” to the town, but even that cannot overcome the expense from unneeded or grossly over-engineered capital projects.

      And selling water to the county or to neighboring communities is problematic. The town only has a very small interconnect with LCSA’s distribution plant and only has the ability to push water east as far as Lansdowne. And going west is all but ruled out with Catoctin Mountain providing an expensive-to-cross barrier.

      The proposed power plant near town would certainly provide the highest volume water user the town could ever hope for (at least it monetizes effluent from the sewer plant), but all the restaurants in world will still not pay for the posh office space built at the water plant, or the nice decorative brick facade on the truck garage at the sewer plant, or the 50% overbuilding of water and sewer plant capacity.

      It’s not that the town doesn’t ultimately need this capacity. It’s just extremely poor planning to bring it on-line and incur the debt years before it is needed. All that means is that by the time that capacity is being used, the plant will be outdated and in need of upgrades. So we’ll pay twice for that water capacity.

      This is definitely a situation where people who followed the mayor’s lead (or lack of a lead) on water and sewer plant capital projects, ill-conceived water rate hikes, and a Quixotic set of lawsuit appeals should all be held accountable at the ballot box. It’s the single biggest example of a town staff leading elected officials around by the nose I have seen, besides the one that Hatrick perpetrates each year on the board of supervisors.

Comments are closed.