Public to have say on Goochland utility rate increases

The public will have its say tomorrow night on a Goochland County proposal to raise utility rates and connection fees to pay for the struggling Tuckahoe Creek Service District, which provides water and sewer service to the eastern end of the county.

The county's Board of Supervisors has suggested raising utility rates by 13 percent in the district and 5 percent for the general county system. Connection fees in the district could be raised $1,000 for water and $2,000 for sewer.

The proposal came after a recent study revealed that the 8,000-acre district -- created five years ago at a cost of $63 million to lure businesses and developments to eastern Goochland -- was not making enough money to pay for its operations.

Scott Gaeser, chairman of the service district's advisory board, said the panel, made up primarily of landowners who put up their property as collateral at the district's inception, opposes the increases.

"What the county is trying to do is a short-term fix to long-term problems," he said. "We're still trying to get the county to give us an accurate statement on financially where the district is right now. Nobody's got their arms around it yet."

In the long term, the county must confront the $63 million of debt incurred by the district. The project was financed on bonds issued from the Virginia Resource Authority.

The district was designed to pay off the debt based on growth, but with few users so far, the outlook is bleak and made bleaker by the fact that debt payments escalate in coming years. County projections show that, at the current rate, the debt will exceed the revenue by 2015.

"The whole district is surviving on tax increases and that's it," said Gaeser, noting that the tax value of the district's real estate has increased to $777 million from $356 million in the past four years.

"The main thing they need to do as a county is concentrate on looking at the district as a viable entity and create zoning and promote development such that we can raise revenue and pay off the debt," he said.

The district was conceived years ago by former County Administrator Gregory K. Wolfrey, and its creation was overseen by former County Engineer Doug Harvey. Harvey was fired late last year as problems with the utilities department were uncovered by an audit, and Wolfrey resigned months later.

County Administrator Rebecca T. Dickson acknowledged the rate increases were only a temporary fix, noting that a comprehensive study of the county's utilities system will be completed by next summer.

"I don't think this will be the last rate increase that will be suggested," she added.

Supervisor Malvern R. "Rudy" Butler said he would need to see more detailed information from the county before he could support the rate increases. He cited ongoing water odor problems in the Kinloch subdivision and questions over the amount of water being flushed as areas of concern.

"Until we correct some of these problems, it's going to be tough for me to vote for a rate increase on water," he said. "Unless they bring some great facts, it's going to be hard to tell people we're going to raise their rates."

Supervisor Ned S. Creasey agreed.

"I don't think we're at the bottom of the situation yet, and there's a lot more discovery to be done," he said. "When we act, we know we need to be doing it right."

Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or .