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Lowville Trustees Approve Ten Percent Increase for Water Rates
10/17/17 09:00pm
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    Lowville, NY- The Lowville Village Board of Trustees unanimously approved a
    ten percent rate increase to users of the Village water system following a public
    hearing on the matter this evening.

    This equates to a roughly $17 yearly increase for the average residential user,
    Trustee Dan Salmon said, noting that even with the increase residents will be
    paying just a half-cent . The increase is scheduled to take effect on November
    1st and will appear on residential customer's May bill. Industrial users of the
    system use a substantial majority of the water. Based on last year's total billing
    of just under $1 million dollars, the increase is projected to inject just under
    $100,000 into the water fund annually.

    Trustee Salmon also stated during the public comment session that 15 cents of
    every dollar collected in water rates is currently paid out to other municipalities
    in taxes on the portions of the system located outside village limits, including
    the water filtration plant in Crystal Dale.

    Even with the increased rate, users of the Village of Lowville water system will
    still be paying some of the lowest rates in the area. With only a few rate
    increases implemented over the past several decades and a number of
    upgrades to the system needed, the Village of Lowville Municipal Board at their
    September meeting recommended that trustees enact the rate increase.

    The Village was under a mandatory conserve water mandate from August 8th
    until September 27th after heavy rain and increased usage combined to strain
    the filtration portion of the water system. The board approved leasing a
    portable filtration plant at an emergency meeting on August 24th, at a cost of
    around $30,000 per month. Leasing a generator and supplying the fuel to run
    the portable plant were also approved at that time. With the portable plant now
    in operation, the system is now capable of filtering the permitted amount of 1.6
    million gallons per day. Village officials are working on a long-term solution to
    increase filtration capacity.

    Kraft Heinz, which uses between 60 and 70 percent of the systems water, said
    in a statement read this evening by Brian Western that the company has
    implemented a system where they are able to use 50,000 gallons per day of
    clean polished water recovered from string cheese manufacturing. This has
    taken their average daily usage down to 700,000 gallons per day from a peak
    earlier this summer of 750,000 per day. The company said that a capitol project
    has been approved to expand that system, and they anticipate that by next
    year they will be at pre-expansion usage levels of between 550,000 and
    575,000 gallons per day.
Video: Village of Lowville Public Hearing on Water Rate Increase