By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

After more than a decade of stable rates, the town’s sewer customers will see their user fees double by next March.

Citing increased expenses and dwindling cash reserves, members of the Goffstown Sewer Commission recently voted to raise sewer user fees twice over the next eight months.

According to the new rate structure, the town’s 2,200 sewer customers will pay a $75 quarterly user fee beginning in September of this year, followed by a $100 quarterly user fee beginning next March.

Currently, Goffstown’s sewer customers pay a $50 quarterly fee for sewer use, for an annual total of $200. As of March, the new rates will put annual users’ fees at $400.

Customers’ one-time sewer connection fee is also scheduled to increase to $5,000, up from the current cost of $2,200.

The commission’s chairman cited upgrades to the Manchester Wastewater Treatment facility and Goffstown’s own sewer maintenance as reasons behind the increases.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” said commission Chairman Stephen Crean.

“Our expenses to Manchester have gone up considerably. As part of (Goffstown’s) roads program, we’ve been doing repairs. Everything in general has increased over the past 15 years,” he said.

Goffstown pumps wastewater to the same Influent pumping facility as Bedford and Londonderry, according to the city of Manchester’s Web site.

Goffstown pumps approximately 1.2 million gallons of wastewater to Manchester daily, said sewer commission administrative assistant Marilyn Hozeny.

The sewer commission’s bills from Manchester Wastewater Treatment facility average $33,000 per month, according to Hozeny.

Sewer line repairs were also cited as a reason for the rate increases.

Crean said the sewer commission tries to keep overall costs to the town in check by scheduling its line repairs to coincide with Department of Public Works road projects.

“If DPW has to dig up the road for repairs, we try to do our repairs at the same time to avoid digging up the road twice,” Crean said.

Commissioners discussed the need to raise sewer use fees at a recent public hearing with the Manchester engineering firm of Hoyle, Tanner and Associates.

At that hearing, which took place in June, the consultants’ study showed Goffstown’s share of upgrades to Manchester wastewater facility could total $7.7 million. The same study places the sewer commission’s line replacement projects at $665,000 per year.

The sewer commission has tried to keep the public informed of possible sewer rate increases and had posted public notice before the June hearing, Crean said.

He also noted this will mark the first change in rates since 1994, when fees decreased from $65 per quarter to the $50 quarterly charge users have paid for the past 12 years.

Consultants from Hoyle, Tanner and Associates told commissioners at their June hearing that added fees would be needed for the the commission to maintain the recommended cash balance of $1.1 million.

Although members of the board of selectmen had considered putting the sewer commission on the selectmen’s agenda to discuss the upturned rates, Crean said no such meeting has yet been scheduled.

He said the commission will likely include information explaining the change in the bills sewer customers receive in September.

Goffstown sewer customers currently receive their bills each March, June, September and December, at the end of each financial quarter, Hozeny said