Water rate for Belmont residents of Briarcrest is quadruple that of Laconia

BELMONT — Of the 241 units in Briarcrest Estates, 41 are in Belmont where residents may pay as much as four times as much for their water than their 200 neighbors in Laconia. And it seems nothing can be done to overcome the disparity.

"The property taxes and water rates in Belmont are ridiculous," said George Blaisdell, who has pursued the question of water rates with the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (PUC), New Hampshire Attorney General and, most recently, the board of directors of the Lakemont Cooperative, which purchased the manufactured housing park in June.

According to Blaisdell, in 2001 when Mark and Ruth Mooney, who developed and owned Briarcrest Estates, expanded the park into Belmont they considered connecting the additional units to the Laconia Water Works, which served the remainder of the park. However, the Mooneys chose instead to connect to a community water system they owned, Lakeland Management Company, Inc., which had provided water and sewer service to some 115 customers in Belmont since 1987.

The Mooneys could not be reached for comment and Seth Nuttelman, superintendent of the Laconia Water Works, said that he was not aware of the factors underlying their decision. However, Nuttelman noted that for a water system to connect to Laconia's mains it would have to meet particular specifications.

In 2004, the Mooneys sold Lakeland Management Company, Inc. to White Rock Water Company, Inc. , a community water system serving customers in Bow owned by Theresa Crashaw of Gilford. In February, both White Rock and Lakeland were acquired by Abenaki Water Comopany, a newly- formed, wholly- owned subsidiary of New England Service Company, Inc., a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Plainville, Connecticut.

Soon after the transaction closed the PUC approved a rate schedule for the residential customers of Briarcrest Estates, consisting of a quarterly customer charge of $97 and an additional charge for metered service of $5.3388 per hundred cubic feet (hcf), or 748 gallons, of water used. The national average of water usage is ten hcf units per person per quarter. At these rates the annual cost of water for a two-person household would consist of customer charges of $388 and usage charges of $427 for a total of $815.

By contrast, a two-person household at Briarcrest Estates served by Laconia Water Works using the same amount of water would pay a quarterly base rate of $20 and a usage rate of $1.45 per hcf, which amounts to $196 a year.

Nuttelman said that the disparate rates are a function of economies of scale. Abenaki Water Company serves 158 customers in a limited section of Belmont, but must bear the capital costs of maintaining its wells, pumps, mains and meters. With relatively few customers the operating and capital costs per unit are very high.

Nuttelman said that Laconia Water Works cannot acquire a private community system nor can it sell its water to private entities. Moreover, he said that his department cannot extend either supply or service beyond the city limits without the expressed approval of the City Council.

Orry Gibbs, president of the Lakemont Cooperative, said that Blaisdell has approached the board of directors about addressing the issue. However, short of acquiring Abenaki Water Company, which would be far beyond the means of the cooperative, she said there is nothing the board can do. She said that the cooperative has its hands full managing the park and is in no position to own and operate a water company. "I feel terrible for those people," she said of the Belmont residents of the park. "It has been an ongoing problem and I truly wish there is something we could do for them."