Huntertown Council Approves Sewer Rate Change

Huntertown residents could soon see their sewer bills double. Monday, the town council voted to switch from a flat fee to a metered rate...and some residents were outraged.

Huntertown has a contract with the city of Fort Wayne to use city utilities services. For several years now, city rates have gone up, but instead of passing the increase along to Huntertown residents, the town council paid for the hike out of the town's utility fund.

Now the fund is low and they say the rate increase for Huntertown utility customers is a must.

The council says they've been absorbing the costs of Fort Wayne's utility cost increases for years at about an 8-percent increase a year.

The council says the town's seen substantial growth over the years, so they've never been in financial trouble and therefore never considered passing the brunt of the utility hike onto residents. But, that's not the case anymore.

Monday, the board unanimously voted to change sewer rates. Huntertown utility customers will now be billed based on water usage and not a flat rate like they had been before. Previously they were being charged a flat monthly rate of $21.25.

The average customer uses about 5000 gallons of water a month. And at that rate, they're looking at now paying close to double per month.

Huntertown officials have been trying for a while now to build their own sewage plant and break away from Fort Wayne.

But, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management denied the town's proposal. The town has filed an appeal and a decision is expected within the next 3 months.

Regardless of what happens with the appeal, the sewer rate change will happen. It's likely to go into effect the next billing cycle, which would be January 1^st.