The York County Board of Supervisors will receive a presentation on the proposed Regional Consolidated Sewer Plan at their Tuesday work session.
The plan would consolidate the sewer system of all three Historic Triangle localities along with all of the systems in Hampton Roads to create a single, unified sewer system under the control of the Hampton Roads Sanitation District.
At Tuesday’s work session, York County staff members will brief the board on the contents of an almost 180-page study from a consulting firm tasked with examining whether a regionally managed system would be more cost effective.
The HRSD Commission recently voted in favor of regionalization. The process would save Hampton Roads as a whole about $948 million over 30 years, according to the study.
The results of the study show that most customers in Hampton Roads will pay less for sewer services in a 30-year period, while some, such as citizens of the City of Williamsburg, would pay more. York County customers would save money, according to the study. The average bill in 2014 is projected to be about $65 while a consolidated system is projected to be $45.
York County received the results of the study several days later than James City County and Williamsburg, so county officials were unable to offer comment to WYDaily for an article outlining the results of the study. The Williamsburg City Council expressed skepticism of the plan at a Sept. 10 meeting as it would increase costs for city residents. James City County officials have also expressed concern about consolidation, saying doing so would potentially lower the quality of customer service.
Consolidation could affect customer service and employment in sewer services. The current system of localities managing their own sewer systems means smaller numbers of customers for each system to serve. A consolidated plan would mean the centralized sewer system would need to be able to provide customer service for 500,000 to 600,000 customers.
The study estimated 102 duplicate roles at the management and supervisor levels if consolidation were to occur. York County, which employs 56 people in the utilities department, has not yet been able to determine if any duplicate positions would exist within the county.
The meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. at York Hall, is open to the public.
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