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Lisbon BPA votes to add monthly $2.50 fee to cover new water meters

LISBON — The village Board of Public Affairs followed through with plans to begin charging water customers $30 a year to cover the cost of replacing meters.

The BPA on Tuesday voted to add $2.50 per month to the monthly bill of every residential and commercial water customer — 1,500 in all — starting July 1. The money is needed to speed up the process of replacing outdated meters with modern meters that can be read via radio frequency from hand-held units operated by employees who would not have to leave their vehicle. This would eliminate the time-consuming practice of going door-to-door several weeks every month, thereby allowing these workers to perform other tasks.

The meter replacement program actually started in 2011, but it was strictly voluntary, and only 370 customers have purchased the new Badger meters, which were initially offered at a reduced cost of $67. The discount was only available the first year, and since then the price of a new meter has risen to $205, and the only customers purchasing new meters are those replacing old meters that have broken.

The BPA decided to scrap this approach and enact a monthly fee to generate the additional money to begin replacing meters on a regular basis until all 1,500 are switched. The 370 who already purchased new meters will not have to pay the fee for 24 months.

“Our intentions were really good, but no one would bite on what we were offering,” said BPA Chairman Carol Petrachkoff.

BPA member Bill Hoover agreed. “We’re not unhappy with our (new) system. We’re unhappy with the progress in getting them installed,” he said.

Earlier in the meeting, the BPA received a proposal from local businessman William “Tag” Lewis, who read about the village’s plight in the newspaper. Lewis’ business interests include Zenner water meters, which can transfer water usage data directly to the office.

Zenner regional sales manager Noah Dew, who accompanied Lewis to the meeting, said their meters come with a 15-year accuracy guarantee, which is tops in the industry. “I think that’s what separates us,” he said, adding if the BPA went with Zenner they would buy back the 370 Badger meters already purchased by village customers.

Beside the obvious advantage of being able to read meters from the office at any time, Dew said the system can send out an alert whenever there is a significant increase in water usage, which is generally an indication of a waterline break. “With this information we can detect a leak when it happens” and repair it immediately, he said.

Lewis said Zenner meters would eliminate the need to have water department employees take time away from other duties to read meters and may actually be more profitable for the village because the meters will be 100 percent accurate in measuring water usage, which is currently not the case.

“It may make you unpopular when someone’s bill goes up, but at least it’s not because you raised rates,” he said.

Zenner meters are also considerably cheaper, at about $140 per unit, compared to the $205 currently being charged for the Badger meters.

Lewis and Dew were told to come up with a proposal, which they intend to present at the BPA’s next meeting on June 13. Petrachkoff said they still needed to enact the monthly fee to pay for the meters, regardless of which ones they use.

tgiambroni@mojonews.com

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