Attention Crisfield property owners:

I feel obligated to make everyone aware of the Somerset County Sanitary District’s Rate Hearing this Thursday at 2:00 in the County Office Complex.

Property owners in the 1988 Bond Year (Account numbers beginning with 88) should ask why their rates are not being lowered as in prior years. These accounts accumulated a surplus which has been used to reduce user rates each year. When asked at a recent meeting about the surplus, a representative first stated there was no surplus and when pressed further stated it was used to pay down the debt in the 1988 bond.

If the rates are approved as advertised; the surplus created by these property owners (as referenced in the FY 2016 audit report) will be spread among all county users the following calendar year-2019 (if the proposed method of billing debt is changed to a countywide rate as recommended by the Sanitary Commission). I don’t believe this is fair to these property owners and urge anyone affected to go to the meeting Thursday afternoon. Copies of the audit reports are available on the county’s website: http://www.somersetmd.us/downloads.html