Starting in a couple months — possibly April or May — Helmsburg and Gnaw Bone sewer customers will pay their sewer bills directly to their sewer districts instead of to the water company.
Both boards voted on Feb. 18 to jointly purchase sewer billing software and employ their shared accountant to mail bills to customers.
Customers’ sewer bills also could change from the amounts they are used to paying — though that amount varied from month to month because it was based on how much water they used.
Under the new billing system, residential customers will be billed at the same rate across their district regardless of how much water they use.
Helmsburg’s minimum charge for 2,000 gallons is now $70. The board voted to raise the new flat rate charge to $92. Last year at this time it was $45, which is what it had been since 2001.
Gnaw Bone’s minimum charge for 2,000 gallons is now $50 a month. That board is going to a flat rate charge as well, but what it will be hadn’t been determined at the time of the meeting. Board member Shawn Fosnight estimated it would be about $50 to $60.
Commercial sewer customers, such as Helmsburg Elementary School and the laundromat, will continue to be billed based on usage. The Helmsburg sewer board will have a special meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 6 at the library to figure out what that rate will be.
Why change?
Brown County Water Utility has been doing sewer billing for both districts for nearly 20 years without an increase in charges.
Two years ago, BCWU’s board of directors voted to raise the sewer bill-handling fees on Helmsburg and Gnaw Bone to $20.50 per customer, said Office/Administration Manager Ellen Masteller.
The company opted to make that change over two years as a courtesy, she said; so, last year, both districts saw an increase in charges to $10.25 per customer. Helmsburg had been paying BCWU $3.50 per customer and Gnaw Bone had been paying $4.50.
Starting with the March billing statement, the districts will be charged the full $20.50 per customer. This is being done to cover the district’s costs, “not to drive them away,” Masteller said.
BCWU kept track of how much water was being used at each property and billed for sewer accordingly, collected sewer payments, and sent the appropriate cut to each board.
“Again, the increased charge is not because we don’t want to provide the service; we just need to cover our cost in the process,” Masteller said.
Instead of paying $20.50 per customer to BCWU, the Helmsburg and Gnaw Bone sewer district boards decided to find another solution. Buying billing software and hiring Frank Muzzillo to do the work from his accounting office was it. He will charge the districts $8.50 per customer to handle their bills.
Customers who need to pay cash instead of mail a check will be able to come to Helmsburg or Gnaw Bone sewer board meetings — which are now taking place at the Brown County Public Library in Nashville — to make their payments. Gnaw Bone sewer board meetings are on first Mondays and Helmsburg sewer board meetings are on third Mondays at 5:30 p.m.
Financial concerns
Having greater control over billing and a consistent stream of predictable income could help the Helmsburg sewer district.
The district board struggles to cover its monthly expenses. Board members have routinely given their own money to make sure bills get paid. The longest serving member, Harrietta Weddle, said she and former member Sharon Rivenbark did that even when Helmsburg’s largest customer, For Bare Feet sock factory, was in business there. In the nine years since For Bare Feet has been gone, it hasn’t gotten any easier to make ends meet.
The Indiana State Board of Accounts recently completed audits of the Gnaw Bone and Helmsburg sewer districts through an outside firm. Between 2013 and 2017, Helmsburg’s year-end general fund balance fell every year but one, from $20,569 to $9,024.
Gnaw Bone’s audit showed that sewer district’s general fund rising in the same time period, from $103,024 to $222,429.
In 2011, Gnaw Bone doubled its sewer customer base with the building of Forest Hills family apartments. The developer paid to expand the sewer plant and run the lines to serve the project.
Helmsburg has picked up perhaps five new sewer customers in the past 20 years, Weddle said. The district recently lost one of its 64 customers, and according to discussion at meetings, a handful of the ones who are still hooked up pay their sewer bills late or not at all.
The board tabled discussion until their next meeting about possibly raising the hookup fee for new Helmsburg sewer customers.
Board member Jenny Austin asked if the district could expand outside its original boundary and pick up more customers who wanted to be served.
The Brown County Regional Sewer District Board is technically responsible for serving all area in Brown County that wasn’t already on sewer service as of 2013. However, the regional board has no sewer plant right now.
If someone wanted sewer service — from Helmsburg or any other existing provider nearby them — they would need to petition the regional board to get service from another provider, said former board member Steve Staley, who attended the Feb. 18 meeting. The regional board has let several property owners hook onto Nashville’s sewer plant because Nashville sewer lines were close to them, said current regional board President Mike Leggins.
Austin raised the question because last year, the Helmsburg Community Development Corporation drew up an economic development area that was much larger than the Helmsburg’s current sewer service area. One of the community group’s hopes was that bringing in more residents and businesses to Helmsburg could help the whole community and its sewer plant, which is running well under capacity.
Another idea that had been suggested but hasn’t panned out was for the regional sewer board to run wastewater from Bean Blossom to Helmsburg. In that way, Bean Blossom would become a customer of the Helmsburg sewer district.
The regional sewer board is still moving on plans to build a wastewater treatment plant in Bean Blossom.
