20% (rate hike) “caught us off guard”—Moulder

The chairman of Oconee’s Joint Regional Sewer Authority has removed from the table, at least for the next few months, any notion that its member cities should pay more for wastewater treatment.  Chairman Scott Moulder, the Seneca administrator, conceded that the idea of a 20% increase in the annual charge to his city and Walhalla and Westminster caught commissioners of guard.  Moulder is believed to have been instrumental in this week’s decision by a JRSA committee to kill the idea at least until they have a look at the budget numbers that’ll be required to run the county plant for the fiscal 2021-22 year.