GUERNSEY– A decision must be made in the next few months by Guernsey’s Town Council on utility rate increases for all utilities provided for residents. At a workshop held last week the reasoning was explained for the need of the increase.
The budget for the enterprise systems (water, sewer, electric, and sanitation) includes deficits from one category that gets funded by revenues in the other, and very little is in reserve for any of the systems.
“There is no money in savings to provide a cushion if there were any major repairs or equipment replacements needed, or if wages increased,” Hillary Dawson, clerk/treasurer, explained.
For instance, the going rate for replacing waterlines is currently $1.25 million per mile.
Wyoming Rural Water Association representatives were invited by Mayor Ed Delgado to the meeting to help explain the need for to increase water rates. Kathy Weinsaft is a training specialist for Wyoming Association of Rural Water Systems, a non-profit association whose mission is to provide assistance to members and ensure protection of Wyoming’s water. The association provides on-site, individualized technical assistance and training to keep quality water systems throughout the state.
“It’s not sustainable,” Weinsaft said. She explained there needs to be enough income to cover the costs of maintaining and testing the drinking water system, but there also needs to be a reserve for emergency repairs and a gradual set-aside of money for future replacement of the water system, when it ages out over a period of decades.
Weinsaft also said the monthly water rates in Guernsey are lower than the average in the state. “Y’all have gotten a good deal for a long time, but it’s not sustainable,” she emphasized.

The State Loan and Investment Board, who determines distribution of funds to assist Wyoming’s municipalities with water projects (including Guernsey’s current project to redirect water directly from the wells to the holding tank), is insistent recipients of the funds need to provide a plan to become sustainable and prevent unnecessary future requests for public funding.
“Our pipes are not in the ground for free – we have to maintain them. It also costs money to sustain the system and wear and tear on the pumps – they work overtime now…and I’d like to take the opportunity to thank everybody for their restraint on the water restrictions. If we hadn’t put them on, my pumps would fail, then it would be $50,000 to replace them. Everything costs: the tank, pump, and the physical lines that transport water to your houses, vehicles, employees, testing and meter readers,” Mike Fronapfel, Guernsey public works director said, emphasizing things can get expensive in a hurry if something goes wrong, and currently there isn’t a reserve to cover any potential high-dollar costs.
“Mike is the most valuable piece of the system,” Weinsaft said, explaining if you don’t have a trained operator who understands the system and is able to drop everything and immediately attend to any issues with the system, the whole thing can fail.
“As an operator, Mike is on call 24/7. If he catches and isolates issues, they can be fixed and repaired, but it’s expensive – and he’s on the line federally and legally – if things aren’t done right. He is in charge of protecting the safety of the drinking water for the town,” said Sunny Schell, technical assistance provider for WARWS.
Currently residents are paying $30 per month for water. The council is looking at increasing that to $40 per tap – possibly at the end of the year – and is considering conducting a water study to identify the exact amount needed for the set-aside to create a fully self-sustainable system of providing safe drinking water to residents of Guernsey.
Sanitation Rates
The discussion on increases to sanitation rates was brief, as there is minimal savings, the sanitation department is underfunded, and the only option logistically to provide trash disposal services to the town is with TDS out of Torrington, and the company increased its rates in a three-year contract due to increasing cost of fuel. The rates are anticipated to fluctuate according to a chart provided by TDS in its contract proposal.
There is no competition for TDS who could offer reasonable rates to the town, and as councilman Joe Michaels pointed out, the town can’t afford to provide their own landfill services. “We used to have one, but it cost us millions of dollars to fix it to be in compliance with the EPA. So that’s not an option,” he said.
Another consideration for increasing rates for sanitation is the deficit it incurs after expenses, and a new TDS contract, effective Aug. 1, further increases the deficit. Sanitation department expenditures includ the TDS contract, landfill monitoring, fuel, employee costs, equipment and maintenance expenses, etc. Again, it was stated at the meeting, “It is not sustainable.”
Electric Rates
Electric utility meter rates are proposed to bump up approximately 12 percent to cover the costs inflation and salary increases over the next three years.
There was no action taken by the council at the workshop, but the concerns of residents were heard, and a discussion of the methods and timing of increases was considered by the council for upcoming council meetings where final decisions will be made.
The next meeting of the town council will be 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6.