MORGANTOWN — Morgantown Utility Board (MUB) General Manager Tim Ball said MUB is ready and willing to take over for the Westover Sanitary Board (WSB) as soon as Morgantown City Council provides guidance as to who will pay for the estimated $10 million in needed improvements and mandatory long-term planning.
Ball said that if MUB’s long held self-help policy is followed — through which customers benefiting from improvements pay for them through rate increases or surcharges — the 2,200 Westover rate payers would be facing an 85.1 percent rate increase.
If Morgantown customers are asked to pay for Westover improvements, they would incur a 4.4 percent increase. If both Morgantown and Westover paid, the jump would be 4.2 percent.
Further, Ball said, the WSB is already operating at a 17.8 percent funding shortfall but maintains rates 10.7 percent lower than those paid by Morgantown residents.
If Westover’s rates were brought up to match Morgantown’s and the increase then spread across Morgantown and Westover customers, Morgantown customers would see a 3.5 percent jump while Westover rate payers would pay 17.5 percent more.
“It’s a simple issue. The issue boils down to who pays. The engineering is easy. We enjoy doing it. Wind us up and turn us loose. The issue is who pays,” Ball said. “The Westover Sanitary Board has had a consistent position that they will not agree to any rate increase despite being 10.7 percent lower than Morgantown’s rates.
“That’s not the 17.8 percent that I told you about a moment ago. Both those numbers are true. They are underfunded by 17.8 percent and their rates are 10.7 percent lower than ours. But yet, they still insist no rate increases.”
Ball’s comments were in response to issues raised by former MUB Attorney Tim Stranko — who also serves as legal council for the City of Westover. Stranko presented the issues during the Oct. 15 MUB meeting, during which he announced his resignation and took public shots at Ball’s leadership.
Stranko said MUB exhibited “selfish” and “reprehensible conduct” for not stepping in and taking over Westover’s utilities, noting a failing Westover lift station could potentially contaminate the Monongalia River.
Morgantown Mayor Bill Kawecki followed Stranko to the podium at that meeting and said that given millions in investment along the riverfront, the prospect of a spill was distressing and would likely damage the reputation of the river and the city.
Ball said MUB has always been responsive to requests from Westover. He said the utility has worked with the WSB on 16 occasions to address various problems and added that, without intervention, the system will continue to degrade.
He said the lift station in question is located at the mouth of Dent’s Run, 1.9 miles downstream from Morgantown’s Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront Park and 3.4 miles downstream from MUB’s Morgantown water plant intake, making any potential impacts to those sites all but impossible.
Until the funding question is figured out, Ball said the situation is basically at an impasse. He cautioned council that deviating from MUB’s longstanding self-help policy would likely draw attention from customers in places like Cheat Lake, Sunshine Estates, Quarry Run, Forest Drive and Poplar Woods, among others.
“Consistency in policy is critical. If you choose another route besides the self-help policy, you should expect a negative reaction from all the customer groups I just listed a moment ago who are paying unique rates higher than Morgantown’s in order to pay off the debt related to their projects,” Ball said. “I think they would have a legitimate gripe if the same was not done in Westover.”
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