September 28, 2021 – Germantown, WI – As taxpayers in the Village of Germantown await a decision on a proposed 83% water rate increase, officials in the Village of Germantown have decided to include an additional 35 feet on the new water tower to accommodate potential water support for the Village of Richfield.
On Monday, September 13, 2021, Village of Germantown residents attended a public hearing to issue comments and ask questions about the proposed rate increase being considered by the Public Service Commission (PSC). During the meeting, Jim Schnoll of Richfield brought up his understanding that the “Village of Germantown and the Village of Richfield are in negotiations right now to supply Richfield with water.”
Steve Kreklow, Village of Germantown Administrator, responded to Schnoll’s concern at that time and said, “There were no conversations with Richfield, there was no thought or plan of providing water sewer service to Richfield after construction plans had started.
“Folks in Richfield have approached the Village of Germantown and asked if we would consider providing sewer and water service to them and that is something currently under consideration, although, you know, at this point, there’s no decision to go forward.”
On Monday, September 27, 2021 the Village of Germantown confirmed it will be adding increased footage to the new water tower currently being built to potentially accommodate water for the Village of Richfield.
“We have had some continuing conversations at the last village board meeting,” said Kreklow. “Our village board approved a memorandum of understanding to continue some variations on the possibility of Germantown providing water and sewer to Richfield, to extend the height of the tower we’re constructing. So, we’re moving forward with those negotiations and we will be building the new water tower about 35 feet taller.”
As far as financing the added 35 feet, Kreklow said they are exploring two options. “If we do end up providing water service to Richfield, we will be reimbursed for the Village’s share of the costs. If we don’t end up reaching an agreement with them, there were some other components of the well project out at Holy Hill that came in lower than what we budgeted so we would use those budgetary savings to pay for the 35-foot extension.”
Following the September 13, 2021, hearing, representatives of the PSC said it would get back to the Village of Germantown with its decision about the water rate increase within a couple of weeks.
“Thursday, September 23, 2021, I just checked in with PSC staff,” said Kreklow. “I was told the final decision is still going through their internal review process. I would expect we’ll have a decision probably by the end of this week.”
Kreklow knows Village residents have strong feelings about the proposed water tax rate increase as well as the addition of another municipality to the water tower project and expects the advantages to alleviate any concerns.
“There are some potential financial benefits to the utility repairs, from adding some additional service areas to the utility,” Kreklow said. “The broader the base of ratepayers, the lower the overhead costs for the ratepayers as a group, for each individual repair. So there are some potential advantages. We’ll see if it’s something the Village Board ultimately wants to go ahead and do.”
Jim Healy, administrator in the Village of Richfield, offered statements on the water issue following an August 19 closed session.
Healy indicated the Village of Richfield had “been pursuing the idea for maybe the past five years” regarding an inter-governmental agreement with Village of Germantown for purchase of water and sewer infrastructure to service Northeast Corridor.
Below are statements from Healy following the August 19 meeting.
“It’s been a hot topic issue in our community for a number of years. But at that same time, over the course of the last decade, we’ve done numerous studies to show the benefit of this area, developing industrial and the positive effect it would have on the tax rates and the ability to have good family-supporting jobs right here in our own backyard,” Healy said.
The Village of Richfield has a population around 12,000. Some neighbors fear, once sewer/water are in then high-density housing will follow.
Healy said that won’t happen, primarily because of the location of the subcontinental divide.
“So we have an ordinance that talks about this very thing on our books, where sewer and water utilities cannot extend west of STH 175,” said Healy. “If it does, it triggers a referendum. We were that confident in the fact we only want this isolated to a very particular region of the village of Richfield, and no more.”
Healy said he will have additional comments and those will be posted as soon as information becomes available.
This is a working story and updates will be published shortly.