The Harford County Council approved a bill Tuesday regarding water and sewer connection charges, but tabled a vote on a new water billing schedule.
The bill defines an "equivalent dwelling unit" as equivalent to 20 gallons per minute or 30 fixture units, and an "individual residential customer" as a single-family detached, semi-detached or townhouse dwelling.
It clarifies that homes with a 5/8-inc10h or 3/4-inch meter will be defined as one EDU, and anyone with a 1-inch meter will be considered two EDUs.
A bill for a new water rate table, however, was held because several council members, namely Joe Woods and Billy Boniface, are concerned about a proposal to charge higher water rates to homes with sprinklers.
The council recently approved a bill ultimately requiring sprinklers in new homes.
Woods said he did not understand why a home with sprinklers should be charged more when a fire extinguished by sprinkler would cost the county less than one extinguished by standard fire personnel and equipment.
He said he understands that a sprinkler would use about 100 gallons in 10 minutes, while a home without a sprinkler would require 1,000 gallons of water in 10 minutes.
Woods later explained that "the [division of water and sewer] position is, it's a luxury of being able to connect, being able to use that extra water."
"The theory is, once the meter is larger, there's more of a potential demand or flow into the house," he said.
The proposed water table bill for the county would raise the base charge amount by at least $2 (for a 5/8- inch meter) and would raise the base usage rate by 78 cents.
The excess usage rate would go up by about $1.
It would also scrap a separate water table for the Fallston corridor.
The quarterly billing schedule for fire protection would also increase, from, for example, $1,200 for a 5/8-inch meter for a fire connection size of 12 to $1,764.54 for the same connection.
County sewage base would be raised from $3.80 for a 5/8-inch meter to $5.61 and the rate would be raised from $2.10 to $3.09.
Swan Creek's sewer base would be raised from $4.38 to $6.45, and the rate from 87 cents to $1.28 per 1,000 gallons.
Property tax credits
The council also approved a bill that again gives a property tax credit to 36 properties living near the Scarboro Road landfill.
Those properties are in the 3200, 3300 and 3400 blocks of Scarboro Road, the 2900 through 3100 blocks of Dublin Road, the 3100 block of Sandy Hook Road, the 3100 block of Tucker Road and the 3200 block of Lucky Drive.