September 29, 2021 – Village of Richfield, WI – The Village of Germantown will add an additional 35 feet on to its new water tower to accommodate potential water support for the Village of Richfield.
In a story this week WashingtonCountyInsider.com (WCI) detailed the conversations between the Village of Germantown and the Village of Richfield including a potential 83% water rate increase and how the two communities are moving forward with the partnership despite some reservations from taxpayers.
Jim Healy is administrator in the Village of Richfield.
“I applaud the elected officials at the County and in Germantown for recognizing the opportunity before us and having an open mind to explore the possibility of extending municipal utilities to our Northeast Corridor for Office/Light Industrial Development. We have a chance to form a truly unique partnership that benefits all our taxpayers,” said Healy.
“The crux of this Memoranda Of Understanding is for us to do our due diligence to ensure it makes financial sense and is a true “win-win” scenario.
“In my opinion, if the Village of Richfield were to put up its own water tower less than a mile away from where this one is currently being constructed in Germantown on Rockfield Road, that is a part of everything that is wrong with government and would be objectively wasteful spending. We should be working on ways to collectively reduce the burden to our taxpayers and breakdown these individual fiefdoms in the name of good governance. That is our task as public sector professionals.”
WCI: Why is Germantown water beneficial to Richfield?
“Right now, these farm fields generate very little in terms of taxes and assessed value for the Village of Richfield. New, high-value non-residential development will generate tax revenue to offset and reduce the tax burden to our residents over the long-run. They will also create family supporting jobs right here in our own backyard,” said Healy.
“From speaking with real estate professionals and people in the economic development industry, like the Executive Director of Economic Development Washington County, Mr. Christian Tscheschlok, this property is truly unique and the reason why it has continued to languish and not be developed according to its highest and best use, is the lack of municipal utilities.
“This geographic area has also been studied and has a vastly different geological makeup than the majority of the Village of Richfield which has sand and gravel soils. So you are not going to see the same type of “groundwater recharge” you see throughout the community and therefore over time, you’d likely see negative impacts to surrounding wells based on the type of Office/Light Industrial uses we have shown in our Comprehensive Plans dating back to 2004.
“The cost of the Village of Richfield starting its own utility is something our Village Board has expressly stated opposition to and since we are talking about a limited geographic area, the return on that type of an investment does not make sound financial sense.”
WCI: Germantown is set to hear from the Public Service Commission this week on an 83% rate hike. How will Richfield absorb this rate? Who will pay? Incoming industry?Â
Healy: The Village of Richfield will not absorb this rate, nor will our residential taxpayers. T
hese water rates will be paid for by the Office/Light Industrial users who will utilize this service in the Northeast Corridor. According to some statistical analysis performed by the University of North Carolina, in partnership with the PSC of Wisconsin (https://dashboards.efc.sog.unc.edu/wi), the median quarterly water bill estimated at 12,000 gallons was approximately $65. The Village of Germantown’s prior to this proposed increase was around $37 per quarter, about half of what people elsewhere in the State were paying, on average.
With the proposed rate increase at 83%, the new rate will be approximately $71.00/quarter. Compared to publicly available 2020 utility rates in nearby communities like Sussex ($79.05), Mequon ($82.57), Slinger ($67.48), and Hartford [$84.40 (Source: PSC Website 2020 Community Rates- linked above)] these rates appear to have parity with surrounding local governmental entities.
WCI: Will Kwik Trip be impacted by this? Have they reached out with concerns? Will the golf course be impacted? The restaurants/bars?
Healy: I would say unequivocally all of these places would be impacted- but not for reasons you might be thinking. If this area were developed as an Office/Light Industrial park these employees are going to need places to eat, get their dry cleaning done, buy groceries, and purchase gasoline.
The indirect economic benefit to our small business community with the types of development we anticipate for this area could be transformational to our community and regional economy for generations to come.
The Village of Richfield approved the intergovernmental sewer and water agreement with the Village of Germantown at its September 16 board meeting.
According to details: The cost of the height of the water tower is $340,000. The cost of the booster station to support the additional capacity is $60,000.
“Per the signed MOU, these dollars are proposed to be paid for without the aide of general fund dollars or the Village’s financial reserves,” said Healy.
“These costs will be paid for by either the formation of a developer-funded (PayGo) Tax Incremental Finance District or through a portion of the Village’s received American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds which these types of expenditures are expressly permitted and strongly encouraged.”
The Village of Richfield has a population around 12,000. Some neighbors fear, once sewer/water are in then high-density housing will follow.
Healy said that won’t happen, primarily because of the location of the subcontinental divide.
“So we have an ordinance that talks about this very thing on our books, where sewer and water utilities cannot extend west of STH 175,” said Healy. “If it does, it triggers a referendum. We were that confident in the fact we only want this isolated to a very particular region of the village of Richfield, and no more.”
Healy felt the proposed partnership may set a precedent. “I truly believe this type of intergovernmental cooperation will be something that will be replicated throughout the State,” he said.
