OCEAN PINES, Md. - Water bills are rising in parts of Worcester County, and county leaders say the increases are part of a plan to stabilize a system that has not seen significant changes in more than a decade.
County Commissioner Eric Fiori said the county’s water and wastewater operations are set up as enterprise funds that have to stand on their own. “Well, as part of an enterprise fund, it's a break even scenario. So each of our 11 service districts needs to break even on its own, not collectively as a whole,” Fiori said.
Fiori said several factors converged. In past years, some areas showed surpluses while others showed shortfalls. “There were surpluses in certain areas that were being used to fund shortages in other areas,” he said. During the most recent budget cycle, he said, commissioners were told “there was a huge problem.” He added, “And we're running massive deficits within these enterprise funds. And, you know, we as current commissioners, we had to come up with some type of solution.”
Part of that solution is a simpler usage structure that places more cost on higher consumption. Fiori said the old approach gave larger users a break as their volume increased, which pushed more of the burden onto lower users. “So now what you're seeing is your heavy users are going to see increased bills. Your light users are not,” he said.
The county is also working toward more uniform planning assumptions, Fiori said. He described an effort to standardize how an average household is modeled for growth and billing. “We're trying to uniformly bring that back in 250 gallons a day for your average household and spread that throughout the county,” he said.
In West Ocean City, billing moved from a fixtures-based method to a per-EDU approach to match other districts. Fiori said the change creates “winners and losers depending on the size of your home,” with impacts varying by bedroom count and water devices.
For some on the Shore, the shift is showing up quickly. Frank Pasqualino said his latest bill listed far more water than expected. “When we looked at the bill, it was 15,000 gallons more than our last bill, which seems impossible,” he said. In a separate interview, Ocean Pines homeowner Rick Konowal said his quarterly total jumped. “When I opened it up, it was like $75 more than what it normally should be. You know, we pay quarterly and $75 times four, it's $300 more a year,” Konowal said.
Fiori said the goal is to get each system back to a sustainable position and to invest in operations and infrastructure so large increases do not repeat. “We need to get these systems back to sustainability on their own enterprise fund,” he said. He also left the door open to adjustments if the numbers improve. “If enterprise funds end up making more or bringing in more revenue than expenses, obviously their surpluses are involved,” he said, adding that the aim is “to get these water sewer rates back down to a reasonable level.”
Fiori called the situation complex but said the county is reviewing costs and partnering where possible. “We're looking at every possible thing. But for right now, unfortunately, these increases are not something we're happy about, but a necessity for the sustainability of the system,” he said.
Anyone who believes a bill is inaccurate can request a meter check and a usage history review through the county’s billing office.