For the first time in a decade, the Greenville water rate is rising, increasing $1 per 1,000 gallons.
During a public hearing on Wednesday, the Greenville Select Board approved the increase.
Town Administrator Tara Sousa said water department costs have gradually increased over the years, as the town’s contract with Utility Partners, the company that manages the water department, contains a clause to increase along with the Consumer Price Index.
In addition to increasing management costs, Sousa said, the town has also had to make repairs to the department’s pumps, a project which required a loan the town is now paying back.
The increasing costs have made the budget very lean for the department, Sousa said.
“This year, for example, we came in just $3,000 under budget. There is very little that can be transferred to the water expendable trust fund,” Sousa said. “If we continued in this manner, we couldn’t sustain the trust fund.”
The Select Board also announced the new sewer rate for Greenville Estates, which is calculated every year using a formula which takes into account the wastewater budget and average daily flow from the treatment plant.
The Greenville Estates rate was set at $8.89 per $1,000 gallons, a 51 cent decrease from last year’s rate.
The sewer rate for the rest of Greenville is staying static, at $20 per thousand gallons.
During the same meeting, the board also held a public hearing regarding adopting the state’s leash law. There are two warrant articles on this year’s warrant dealing with the law – one to put in place the state RSA, and one to repeal the Greenville town ordinance currently governing dog control.
The town currently has a leash ordinance, which was adopted in the 1970s. The ordinance is based off of the state law at that time, but has not adopted any of the changes made to the law since that time.
One of the changes from the town’s ordinance is the fines for animals that become a nuisance. In the town’s ordinance, the fine is $10, no matter how many times a dog is found in violation of the ordinance.
In the state law, however, a dog owner can be fined $25 for a first offense, and $100 for a second or subsequent offense, if it happens again within a year.
If a dog meets the state standards as a “menace”, the owner can be fined $50 for the first offense, or $200 for subsequent offenses within a year. A dog that meets the standards to be considered “vicious” can net the owner fines of $100 for a first offense and $400 for a second offense within a year.
By doing away with the town’s own ordinance and adopting the state law, Sousa said the town will defer to that law no matter what changes are made to it, without having to change its own statute every time.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.