From the Brush News-Tribune (Jesse Chaney):
Most Brush residents will likely soon face a wastewater fee increase of about $10.80 per month, and those who use large amounts of water could be paying even more. During the Brush City Council’s work session Monday evening, Brush Finance Officer Joanne Gosselink proposed that the council raise the city’s base wastewater rate from $4.20 to $5 and the price per ET unit from $27 to $35. An ET unit is equal to 20,000 gallons per quarter of water used. Gosselink said the increase would help the city pay for construction of a new wastewater facility, which would replace the city’s 45-year-old plant. “Barring anything unforeseen happening, we feel that $10.80 will keep us from having to raise a huge amount again,” she said.
To pay for the plant, Gosselink said, city officials plan to borrow $10 million from the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority. The agency has offered the city a 20-year loan at 2.5 percent interest, she said. The city will need to make its first semi-annual payment of roughly $319,000 on Feb. 1, 2011, she said. If the council were to implement the new fees on Oct. 1, the city would collect about 42 percent of the amount needed for the first bill by the date it is due, she said. “We need to start building up the reserve for that first payment as soon as possible,” she said…
Brush Administrator Monty Torres said the city has completed the engineering and final design work on the new wastewater plant, which will help the city prepare for the implementation of more stringent requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency. Construction on the new plant is slated for mid November, Gosselink said.
More wastewater coverage here.