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To the Editor,
Who should pay for the water and sewer upgrades in the City of Weirton?
There is a group of Weirton citizens having a petition drive in order to get that answer from the West Virginia Public Service Commission (WVPSC). The WVPSC has said that they do not support the proposed Weirton project as it is currently structured; That Weirton officials have stated that the need for the project relates to future demands of the area; that the WVPSC Staff has long held the position that the responsible party, being the land developers, should pay their own way with respect to major utility expansion made necessary by development; and finally, that existing customers should not pay a disproportionate share of these expansion costs.
The Weirton Petition Group leaders reaffirmed those opinions from the WVPSC a week after the City of Weirton passed the first reading of an ordinance that would increase water rates by 30% and increase sewer rates by 100%.
Unfortunately the WVPSC is unable to step in and consider the residents' concerns for fair rate hikes unless 25% of the City of Weirton utility rate payers sign and submit a petition. If the petition is successful the WVPSC will then obtain jurisdiction and authority over the rate proposal, conduct an investigation, hold a public hearing, and finally make a decision of what a fair rate would be for all those who would benefit from the proposed utility projects.
The requirement that rate payers must petition the WVPSC to obtain authority and jurisdiction of a rate issue was the result of a change in the WV Code in 2015. So the purpose of the petition is not to stop business development in the city or to drive away existing businesses from the city; I hope nobody wants that for our city. The sole purpose of this petition is to simply ask the WVPSC to come into the city and using their skilled staff consider everyone's position, including current rate payers, and take all the factors into consideration including any grants or other awards that may have been promised to the city, and to finally decide just who should be paying what and how much each of the beneficiaries of these projects should pay in the form of a utility rate hike.
I would hope that city officials would respect the citizen's right to petition the WVPSC and to have the WVPSC review their plans along with considering the citizen rate payers when making such a big financial decision that will be a debt the city rate payers will be paying for the next 20 to 25 years.
David Klar
Weirton