Dale City association considers a petition against sewer hike

The Dale City Civic Association is considering creating a petition for area residents to protest the recent sewer rate hike proposed by Dale Service Corporation.

The subject was informally broached at Thursday's DCCA meeting at Birchdale Recreation Center.

On May 15, DSC filed an application with the State Corporation Commission for an expedited rate increase to offset "increased operating expenses, maintain the company's debt service coverage ratio ... and to account for the present abatement to growth in new service connections."

To go along with the rate increase, DSC will be offering a three-tiered system based on usage recommended by the SCC, with quarterly costs ranging from $93.82 on the low end to $126.93 on the high end. Approximately 65,000 residents in the Dale City area currently paying a flat rate of $101.26 each quarter for sewer service. Under the new rates, DSC would produce additional revenues of $874,689.

DCCA communications officer Connie Moser called the proposed rate hike of approximately 9 percent "too much to bear for the current economic condition."

Last week, the SCC had a public hearing in Richmond regarding the rate hike despite efforts by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors to hold a hearing in the county.

The BOCS adopted a resolution July 21 opposing Dale Service Corporation's rate increase and, at the same time, a few individual supervisors requested the SCC schedule a hearing locally. But according to assistant county attorney Kevin Black, it took a phone call and a letter to the SCC in mid-October to hear anything in response to the county supervisors' request to change the venue.

After Black's letter was submitted into the record, DSC sent a letter to the SCC clerk's office dated Oct. 23 saying it didn't have an issue with a hearing in Prince William County.

However, it stated in the letter that making a venue change just a few weeks before the November meeting wouldn't allow the company enough time to notify its customers of the change.

DSC's letter also referred to a lack of interest in previous public hearings held in the county as a reason not to move the hearing from Richmond. The SCC hearing examiner ultimately denied moving the hearing and instead allowed those residents who couldn't make it in person to dial into a teleconference that morning.

Black said there still should have been due process despite the small number of people that may have protested previous rate increases.

The decision to accept the rates will be made by the SCC after its hearing examiner reviews the case and all the testimony presented.

In 2001, DSC increased its rate by approximately 130 percent in order to upgrade its wastewater treatment facilities to meet the wastewater effluent limits in the company's two wastewater discharge permits issued by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

Since then, DSC has requested three more rate increases before its 2009 request. At the time of the 2004 rate increase request, Dale City residents were paying $73.75 a quarter, more than a third less than they pay today.

According to previous applications filed with the SCC, DSC cited a number of reasons for their requests including a slowdown in service connections and costs related to a new plant and equipment.

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-878-8062.