Sewer district proposing rate increase

It has been more than a decade since the Minden-Gardnerville Sanitation District raised its user fees and 17 years since the connections fees have been increased.

That may change Jan. 1, when the quarterly residential rate is going up 58 percent from $42.32 to $67.16.

The district board will meet 6 pm. Tuesday to hear a presentation on the rate increase and a business impact statement. The board meets at its offices at the plant, 1790 Highway 395 in Minden.

Customers received notice last week of an Oct. 3 public hearing before the district’s board of trustees to discuss the increase.

The district serves primarily Minden, Gardnerville and the Gardnerville Ranchos. It is anticipating growth of around 310 equivalent dwelling units over the next year, including adding Pine View Estates and then 60-80 over the next five years.

According to a rate presentation to the board in March, the district’s operation costs have increased 5-percent.

The district is also looking at $20 million in improvements, including $12.4 million for the treatment plant.

According to the rate study conducted by Hansford Economic Consulting, the district takes in $1.62 million a year in user fees. Its expenditures are expected to grow to $1.99 million next year, and more than double by 2027.

That means the board is proposing to increase the quarterly rates by decreasing amounts over the next five years, with annual fees for a resident growing to $171.71 a quarter by the end of 2028.

Gardnerville Ranchos residents, whose sewage is also treated by the sanitation district, will increase from $13.99 to $22.39 a month, and continue to increase to $39.03 by July 2028.

In a comparison of the monthly cost, the district charges less than Douglas County, which charges $72 a month, which is $216 a quarter.

The district was formed by an overwhelming popular vote in a Jan. 9, 1964, election which also selected its first five-member board.

Serving on that first board were Valley notables Fred Settelmeyer, Roy Crowell, Dan Hellwinkel, Knox Johnson and Lawrence Jacobsen.

The next year the district applied to the Public Service Commission for rates of $4.50 a month with a $250 connection fee. Opened April 15, 1966, the new plant replaced a big septic tank that had served the two towns for a half-century, according to the April 21, 1966, edition of The Record-Courier.