BRILLIANT –The Brilliant Water and Sewer District is proposing a 3 percent increase in rates every year for the next five years to meet a state mandate concerning asset management.

The water and sewer district reported rates in the first year will increase 18 cents per thousand gallons of water and 19 cents per thousand gallons for sewerage.

The water and sewer rate increase is part of the district’s asset management plan, which is being mandated by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency on water and sewer departments statewide.

The plan details the district’s goals and finances during the next five to 20 years. The rate increase will help defray the increasing costs of utilities, materials and fuel, as well as needed improvements outlined in the asset management plan, the board reported.

Mike Nichols, water and sewer board president, said the board was told by the Ohio EPA that rates would have to be increased slightly over a period of time vs. a large increase at one time.

“We don’t want to get in the same position as other communities. We have to remember it is a business and we have to run it like a business,” Nichols said.

The board on Aug. 28 voted to bring in the resolution for the rate hikes. The board will hear three readings of the proposed resolution at meetings scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 25 and Oct. 9. Each of the meetings will begin at 5 p.m. at the board office, 706 Second St.

The board announced it will hold a rate-increase discussion at the beginning of each meeting.

If the resolution is approved on Oct. 9, the rate increase will be effective with the water and sewer bill due on Nov. 24.

Nichols said the board will maintain its policy of having a 1,000 gallon minimum charge, as compared to other communities which have a 3,000 gallon minimum. That way, he said, senior citizens or one person in a home aren’t paying for water they don’t use.