Don’t guess on rates, attend county hearing

Rather than resorting to speculation based on suppositions that are backed by surmises, residents who are angry about the major increases in their county water and sewer bills this quarter should make a point to attend the county commissioners’ Tuesday, Dec. 2 session in Snow Hill.

The commissioners, who preside over the 11 sanitary districts the county owns and operates, say they and department heads will answer questions from the public and clarify how rates are set for these independent districts and why they charge them.

The first thing members of the public should know going into this hearing is that all districts are not created equal. Some, such as the Ocean Pines district, are much larger than the others. But they are equal under the law in that they must be financially self-supporting and independent of each other. Past mistakes notwithstanding, they cannot use their revenues to support each other.

That’s how this mess became so confusing: past managers of the districts’ revenues  — held in what are known as “enterprise funds — used money from financially stable districts to subsidize operations in money-losing districts, even though that practice is prohibited. That led to speculation that higher rates in successful districts would be used to cover deficits in under-performing districts.

Consequently, when bills were higher this quarter, some people assumed that was the reason for it. It was not, as the commissioners and department heads will explain next Tuesday.

As Commissioner President Ted Elder said of the upcoming hearing, “If your prices go sky high, you’re going to normally complain. But some of those prices should have been raised years ago – at least, part of what they’re going up now. It would have been a little easier to handle if it was done gradual, but it’s beyond that now …”

 … as the commissioners intend to make clear next Tuesday.