Public hearing for ordinance scheduled for new year
By Steve Van Kooten
In the advent of the new year, as everyone is shaking off the holiday vibes and still struggling to stick to their (mostly) ill-fated resolutions, the town of Bridgeport will hold a public hearing for their new sewer ordinance.
At their December 11 meeting, the town board voted to hold the hearing on January 15 before their next regularly scheduled sanitary district meeting.
Dan Dreessens, a civil engineer and vice president of Delta 3 Engineering, brought the newest version of the ordinance to the December board meeting.
The ordinance reduces the number of different charge rates. Bridgeport currently has between 15 and 20 different rates.
“We’re going to try and simplify that right now,” Dreessens said. “I think you have 15 to 16 different potential rates, and I would like to get back down to six or seven, if we can.”
The ordinance reduced the number of rate charges to 11 or 12 by grouping users into broader categories for residential and small commercial clients.
“That’s what the majority of the public hearing is going to be about. It’s what that charge is going to look like,” he said.
Late fees
The ordinance establishes a three-percent penalty for delinquent bills, which Dreessens said is “pretty standard.”
“It costs money to not get that payment and do all the notifications,” he said.
There is a clause in the ordinance that allows the town to cut off repeat offenders from accessing the system.
“Obviously, it takes a while to get to that point, but you have that clause in here that if they’re routinely late, and if they’re late every single month, years in the making, you can say, ‘Look guys, we’re not going to do that.’”
He noted that the clause is primarily for industrial and commercial users rather than residential.
Waste limits
The proposed sewer ordinance, which is based off of an ordinance from Kieler, Wisconsin, gives decision-making powers for the sewer system to the town’s sanitary district and monetary powers to the town board.
Discharge limits are 200-250 mg./L for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and suspended solids (SS), 5 mg./L for phosphorus, and 15 mg./L for ammonia.
The numbers are in line with other municipalities in the area, according to Dreessens.
Measuring these levels can detect harmful chemicals and sediments in the water supply, track oxygen quality and help preserve wildlife populations.
“If somebody ever did want to come in and say, ‘We’re going to be discharging a little more than domestic strength,’ this is what you would show them,” Dreessens told the board.
Currently, the Bridgeport area does not have many industrial users on the sewer system, according to Dreessens.
Rate increase
The Bridgeport sanitary district did not recommend a rate increase for sewer system access in 2025.
Dreessens said, based on the amount of water sold in 2023, the estimated revenue Bridgeport accrued from the sewer was approximately $127,000 (between $9,000 and $11,000 monthly).
He estimated a five percent increase would add an additional $6,000 in revenue per year.
“I don’t see any reason at this time to do a rate increase,” he told the board.
Bridgeport last increased their sewer rate in 2022.
Dreessens did note that a rate increase in the near future could help the town prepare for debt payments and future improvement projects that will need to be completed.
