The Town Water System Extension Policy Oridnance, defines the Base Facility Charge (or Base Charge) as follows:
Base Facility Charges: Those charges required by the Town to financially support all or a portion of the fixed and non-variable costs of maintaining service facilities for an active consumer, whether any commodity is consumed or not. (Of course our commodity is Water).
The Town is constantly repairing and maintaining the entire water treatment and distribution systems, regardless of whether we produce and sell 10,000,000 gallons of water per day (gpd) or 20,000,000 gpd. The fixed costs of the utility generally include the repair and maintenance of our raw water wells, raw-water transmission mains, the water treatment plant, storage and pumping facilities, potable water transmission lines, distribution lines, hydrants, valves and the water meter. The base charge covers most of these fixed costs plus the costs associated with all the Utility personnel.
Similarly, as a customer or property owner, you have the responsibility to repair and maintain your home and property even if you don't live in it all year. You still have to repair and maintain the parts of your home that need service like painting inside and out, lawn care, irrigation system repair, and repair and replacement of the roof, windows, garage door, hot water heater, air conditioning, kitchen appliances, and any other electrical or plumbing fixtures in the home.
In contrast, the variable costs of the utility are the costs that are directly related to the cost of treating and pumping water to our customers. Costs associated with electrical power, fuel costs, treatment chemical costs, and the remaining portion of our fixed costs not paid by the base charge or other miscellaneous service charges. These variable costs are paid by the consumption or volume charges our customers pay from their monthly water use.
If you have any further questions about of base charges or about our volume charges, please do not hesitate to call us.