ELLSWORTH – The Ellsworth Village Board, on the advice of municipal advisor Ehlers, voted April 16 to submit a water rate application to the Public Service Commission different from the rate talked about at the April 1 meeting.

Peter Curtin of Ehlers presented updated information to the board and an alternative plan for the application after reviewing it further. The board voted April 1 to submit an application with a requested 4% rate of return, while also including the Grant and Piety streets projects in the application. Curtin suggested submitting the application requesting the full PSC rate of return and not including the Grant and Piety streets projects.

This means the PSC full rate of return could provide additional funding that could be used for the Grant/Piety Street project. This option allows the village to move forward with the rate adjustment and streets projects while giving the board time to decide if and which items will be special assessed to residents. Options include special assessing for curb and gutter, trail/sidewalk, water and sewer laterals, water and sewer mains, driveway aprons, etc.

“There is another theory to do our rate case application without the projects involved and accept the PSC’s recommended rate of return which is 6.2% and that would likely be able to fund the projects,” Curtin said. “We may need a simplified rate case or conventional rate case in 2026. Advantages is that it gives the board more time to do special assessment discussions and notifications and gets the application to the PSC. It also allows for a step increase for all the utility users.”

Curtin said when Ehlers first presented the rate case application, they deemed it possible to take the Grant and Piety projects and look at them as future projects as a way of allocating those costs.

“It kind of has a lot to do with how the PSC, when they increase water rates, they tend to push municipalities to be cash heavy and pay for projects,” Curtin said. “What this new sort of proposal would be is to look at those projects in more of a future sense to allow the initial rate increase to put the village in a beneficial position, to allow that rate increase to pay for the Grant and Piety projects. This also allows the village to continue the discussion on special assessments. That gives you guys a lot more time to hammer out what you want to do with that as well.”

Going with this option will not change the village’s Safe Drinking Water Loan Program application from the Department of Natural Resources for the Grant and Piety Street projects or the project timeline.

Administrator-Clerk/Treasurer Brad Roy said the last water rate increase in Ellsworth took place in 2007.

“That’s why we got to raise it,” Trustee Tony Hines said.

“The plan is to get out of the red,” Roy added.

The board voted to submit the application at the PSC’s recommended 6.2% rate of return, amended from the 4% approved at the April 1 meeting.

“I like that it takes the pressure of rushing to make decisions on special assessments,” Village President Becky Beissel said.