All Bonita BSU customers are currently paying $3.66 per thousand gallons (TG) for water coming in (capped at 6,000 gallons) and $3.70 per TG for the same water (capped at 16,000 gallons) for sewer use. BSU cannot meter outcoming water so the sewer charge is based on incoming gallons. That adds up to $7.36 per TG not the $3.66 - $6 as Mr. Partin claims.
If Mr. Partin was truly responsible he would not try to mislead the public. The only customers paying $3.66 per TG are the ones with no sewer connections, and they are all live outside the city of Bonita, as Bonita requires sewers. The $6 rate Mr. Partin mentions is for commercial customers with high water usage. Below is a link to the BSU site that publishes the actual rates that shows the obfuscation and "misstatements" by Mr. Partin in his Letter.
The average BSU customer does not reach the caps so their effective rate is as posted above. It looks like Mr. Partin, president of BSU either does not know what his average member pays in water rates or he is deliberately trying to mislead us, his "member" public.
BSU cleans the returned sewer water, our water, to a level that is safe for irrigation (or fire suppression, or car washing). BSU then sells that reclaimed water to RCS at $.34 per thousand gallons (TG), way below cost. Remember we have already paid $7.36 per TG for that same water. We, The BSU "members", subsidize RCS with higher rates for our potable water. BSU is a not-for-profit company chartered to provide water to it's "members" not to for-profit resellers.
RCS resells some of its water at a hefty profit (about 5 times it's cost) to the city and the fire district among others. What BSU does with RCS violates its charter. The RCS deal also may jeopardize BSU's non-profit status as far as the IRS is concerned.
But it's in the Omissions in his letter that Mr. Partin is most telling.
First, Mr. Partin does not contradict Jude Richvale's proposal to run reclaimed water to Old 41.
Second, other utility companies in the area supply reclaimed water to ALL of their customers as a matter of policy. Utilities always build the infrastructure (except INSIDE private communities).
Third, the reason for a lack of adequate water pressure for hydrants is pipes (for potable water) with too small a diameter in Old Bonita. This may also be the case with BSU irrigation conduits that run between it's facilities. If this is true this indicates a lack of planning and foresight more than anything else.
Just imagine the kind of problems a patchwork ownership of water conduits would create. Why all those owning pipes could go into the water business and charge whatever to their downstream customers.
BSU, a regulated monopoly, has a mission to deliver water to its captive members at fair prices. It looks like we are not getting that from BSU. All utilities are now encouraged by the FL State DEP (Department of environmental protection) to interlink both potable and non-potable water systems for regional sharing. Soon they will be REQUIRED to do so and BSU will be caught with it's pants down.
Vote for ED FITZGERALD, Fire Commissioner and Candidate for BSU Board
Article by JUDE RICHVALE, Former Chairman Bonita Springs Communications Advisory Board and BSU Board Candidate