JAY — Selectmen voted Monday to approve $5,600 in sewer abatements, about $235 less than last year.
Sewer Department Superintendent Mark Holt went over a list of abatement requests, including those he modified to comply with the town’s existing sewer ordinance policy. The town currently charges a flat-rate user fee based on equivalent units, which equals one residence. A car wash is charged three units. The cost per unit is $315. Townwide taxation covers the remainder needed for sewer revenue.
Selectmen voted in January to change the method of sewer fee calculation based on the amount of water used, effective July 1.
Jody Therrien of Jay, owner of Jay Car Wash, submitted three abatement applications, dated since April 5, 2010, for $2,175, $472.50 and $17,173, which was submitted in December, Holt said. One of the abatements was for 2008-09 and is not in order for abatement since an automated car wash was in use for part of the year, Holt said.
Holt recommended that Therrien be granted a total abatement of $907.50 based on the sewer policy in place.
Holt said the December 2010 abatement request included calculations of numbers that were not in the sewer rate policy and were factored into the request for Therrien’s car wash and mobile home park.
The current policy allows for half of the sewer fee to be abated if there is a vacant unit that qualifies.
Therrien approached selectmen in December over the sewer bills for his car wash. He was being charged about $4,500 a year for sewer fees for his five-bay car wash that includes an automated service bay, he said. However, the automated car wash was shut down.
Town Manager Ruth Cushman advised him to file for an abatement.
Therrien’s brother, Dana Therrien, asked Monday why the abatement recommendation wasn’t higher.
“Jay sewer fees have increased every year since 2005,” he said. “The cumulative increase since 2005 is 70 percent.”
The Therriens have put a lot of time and effort into the application requests, Cushman said.
The Therriens’ abatement package was submitted to the town’s attorney, she said.
“The attorney said, ‘We need to grant the abatement for the policy in place at the time,’” Cushman said.
Selectmen set the per-unit rate fee annually and handle abatements once a year, Holt said.
Therrien said his brother Jody is one of those people who has been paying an unfair share.
“He is asking to be treated fairly,” Dana Therrien said.
The new calculation method that will go into effect in July is expected to make the system more fair for all, Holt said. The method was developed by a Sewer Committee over about a two-year period to make sure it was done right, he said. The committee included people on public sewer and off.
The new policy rewards those who conserve water by letting them pay less and requires those who use more water to pay more, as directed by selectmen, Holt said. It also requires town entities and the school system to pay sewer fees.
Jody Therrien said he went to Holt two years ago to find out why his sewer rates were out of control. He was paying too much in fees, he said.
He is paying more in sewer fees than the Hannaford plaza complex, Therrien said.
Select board Chairman Steve McCourt said sewer fees have been a problem for years.
“It took us three years to get it to go to meter readings,” McCourt said.
People on both sides of the issue have been angry, Selectman Amy Gould said, since those that are not on sewer are subsidizing sewer users.
Jody Therrien said he pays only $1,400 a year in water fees but is assessed $945 for each of the five bays in sewer fees.
Another car wash in town that has one bay is assessed $945 in sewer fees and uses $1,850 in water, he said.
He wants to keep his business competitive, he said.
“I didn’t come here lightly and without a lot of thought,” Jody Therrien said. “I appreciate the time you gave us.”
dperry@sunjournal.com
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