BRWA Board Approves New Rates
BRWA Board Approves New Rates
March 26, 2013
3/26/2013
At the March board meeting, the Bedford Regional Water Authority board voted to approve the advertisement of a new rate structure for the Authority that will go into effect July 1, 2013. The new rates are needed due to the consolidation taking place between the Bedford County Public Service Authority and the City of Bedford Water and Wastewater department as part of the City reversion to a Town.
“These rates take into account all of our customers’ needs and will ensure that the Authority will be able to continue providing excellent service to our community in a fair and reasonable manner,” stated Brian Key, Executive Director.
The new advertised rate structure was approved after a lengthy research and analysis period. From the beginning, the consolidation agreement stated that the rates should include a volume rate for large customers and equalize the two different entities rate structures over the course of ten years. The first step in finding a way to blend the Bedford County Public Service Authority and the City of Bedford’s rates was through a consolidation study performed by the engineering firm Wiley|Wilson. One section of this study compared the rates of the two consolidating entities and proposed a few different rate structure options. This study can be found at www.bcpsa.com.
The study was taken into consideration as the BRWA began forming their Fiscal Year 2013 – 2014 budget. After various committee and board meetings and a work session, the Authority prepared a budget for the Fiscal Year 2013-2014 which was passed at the March meeting based upon the rates necessary for the proposed revenues to exceed the proposed expenditures.
The rates included in the proposed budget are close to the recommendations in the rate section of the consolidation report; for the first year, the board felt it was important to closely follow the study. The Authority will be conducting a more complex rate study in the coming months; this more detailed rate study will help the Authority to prepare for the future budgets.