Additional BSR Water System Information

Dear Homeowners, As a result of our presentations on the water system options it has come to my attention that there is some confusion over the terminology that we have used to discuss the situation. In the following dissertation I am going to try and clear that up.

Some of the confusion has to do with the term “Base Rate”. The Base Rate that is charged for water is a “fixed “number.  In option #2 in our presentation, the $25 proposed fee per month that every homeowner would pay is your “base rate” for water. It would remain the same even if you did not use one drop of water. The base rate that we pay Handy in option #4, (which is also our current situation) is a “base rate” of $25 per occupied lot, multiplied by 983 lots, for a total “base rate” for the park of $24,575 per month or $294,900 per year. That number is fixed and does not change. In Handy’s case, for that base rate, we get to use 1.96 million gallons of water per month, or 23.6 million gallons per year.

If the base rate is always the same, then how can we save money by fixing our pipes? We save by reducing the “overage”. The overage is the amount of water over and above the fixed rate amount. For example in 2023, we used 52 million gallons of water. If you subtract the 23.6 million that the base rate pays for, that leaves 28.4 million gallons of “overage”. Handy charges us $6 per 1000 gallons for this overage. In 2024 our water use increased by 8 million gallons, to 60 million gallons. Our overage is now at 36.4 million gallons.

We know that most of this overage is not going to our homes because in 2024 we sent 15 million gallons of wastewater (sewage) back to Handy. The wastewater amount should be roughly equal to the homeowners water use because it is assumed that 99% of the water that comes out of the tap goes down the drain. So that means that 52 million gallons came into the park, and 15 million gallons went back to Handy, that leaves 37 million gallons of water, that we paid for , that went somewhere, but not to the homes. We call that “unaccounted for” water. In 2024 our unaccounted water increased to 45 million gallons. We know it did not go to additional new homes because the amount of waste water we sent back to handy was the same, at 15 million gallons.

If the amount of overage continues to increase, and it is not going to the homes we have to assume that it is leaking from our aging pipes and going into the lake. The only way to reduce our cost is to try to find and fix those leaks and reduce the “overage.”

Here are some recent numbers for your information:

In 2023 we paid Handy $445,996 for water. If you subtract the $294,900 base charge, the cost of the “overage”= $151,096

In 2024 we paid Handy $514,484 for water. If you subtract the $294,900 base charge, the cost of the “overage”=$219,584, an increase of $68,488.

As you can see, the trend is not good.

I hope that the information that I have provided will be helpful to the homeowners as they make their preferences known on our ballots in March about what they think we should do concerning our continuing water issues. My hope is that we can start thinking about our water system as an amenity, just like our buildings, our swimming pool, our boardwalk, etc.  And just like those amenities there is a need for continuing maintenance and upgrade.

Respectfully

Howard W. Kimbrell