Usually, as time goes on, people end up paying higher prices for everything. But that’s not the case for residents of the City of Fairfax. From now on, their water bills will be lower.
Effective with meter readings taken on or after July 1, City residents are now on the same water-rate schedule as customers of Fairfax Water. It means the water rates have been equalized so City customers and Fairfax Water customers will pay the same rate of $2.55 per 1,000 gallons.
What’s also exciting for local residents is that the change wasn’t expected to take place until January 2017 – so City customers will see a significant reduction in their water bills 18 months ahead of schedule.
In May 2013, the Fairfax City Council entered into an agreement with Fairfax Water to provide City residents with water service. It was finalized in December of that year and took effect in January 2014.
“If we’d maintained our own water system, we’d have had to pay millions of dollars,” said Mayor Scott Silverthorne. “It would have cost us $10 million to $15 million to upgrade the dam from which the City got its water, plus another $15 million for water treatment. So we saved the City $25 million to $30 million in the short run.”
And in the long run, the City will realize an even greater savings. “We had estimates of $80 million – in today’s dollars – to rebuild the water-transmission line from Loudoun County to the City, in about 15 years,” explained Silverthorne. “That was the turning point, when we saw how enormous our expenses would be. We had to factor in all these costs we would have had to pay. And this way is a far more cost-efficient approach for the City in the long run.”
There are two caveats, however. At the time of the deal, he said, “The average savings was about 50 percent per customer. Over the last two years, we didn’t have escalating rates, but Fairfax Water raised its rates 3 or 4 percent. And Fairfax Water does charge a surcharge during the summer months that the City didn’t. It’s for people doing irrigation, such as for golf courses or those with swimming pools, to encourage people to conserve water – which is always a good thing.”
Nonetheless, said Silverthorne, it’s still a great deal for City residents. “The cumulative, average savings to City customers is between $4 million and $5 million,” he said. “Average customers should save about 40 percent on their water bills.”
Further sweetening things is the timeline, and Silverthorne couldn’t be happier. “The fact that they did the water-rate equalization a full 18 months in advance of what the contract called for is good news for the City of Fairfax,” he said. “I am extremely pleased that Fairfax Water moved quickly to equalize rates – which is a win-win for both City customers and Fairfax Water.”