What is an EDU and why are they important?
“An Equivalent Dwelling Unit or one (1) EDU is defined as a single family residential household. Multi-family residential units and non residential facility EDU assessments are also calculated on a fixed “EDU basis” depending on the use. EDUs are assessed per the Rules and Regulations of the entity assessing those EDUs”.
What this means is that every home inside the District’s boundaries will be designated at 1 EDU. Every business inside the district’s boundaries will be assessed EDUs depending on how much water they use (on average) every month.
As far as we can ascertain, the Terrebonne Sanitary District (TSD) will be using the average household non-irrigation water usage as their “EDU basis”. This translates to each 600 cf of water (the average water usage was obtained from the Terrebonne Domestic Water District (TDWD)) used by any business will denote 1 EDU. If a business uses 1200 cf of water they are charged 2 EDUs, 2400 cf of water they are charged 4 EDUs, and so on.
The total number of EDUs in the District will determine the income of the District for the entire year. More EDUs means more money coming in. Simple! Now let’s talk about the number of EDUs the TSD is projecting to have when it begins operations. At this point the district is planning on charging $85 per EDU.
The Terrebonne Sanitary District’s website and their newsletter states that there are 130 lots in the District and they are budgeting 160 EDUs to be online when they open. Now we have counted 128 lots in the district but we will not quibble with that number now.
When it comes to 160 EDUs, we have a big problem with that number. We counted the lots and noted that 37 of those lots do not have a home or a business on them… they are empty lots or have a building on them that does not have a septic. We are now down to 93 lots that can be assigned EDUs.
Of those 93 lots only 7 qualify for more than 1 EDU. The rest are homes or businesses that use less than 600 cf per month. An example of a business that uses less than 600 cf might be the Post Office or the hardware store. The following are our estimates of the EDUs that will be assigned to the 7 lots that use more water:
Trailer Park – 19 EDUs
Pump House – 8 EDUs
Oliver Lemons – 8EDUs
School – 6 EDUs
Brand 44 – 6 EDUs
The Depot – 3 EDUs
Fergusons – 2 EDUs
These 7 businesses should now reflect a total of 52 EDUs and if you combine that with the 86 EDUs from the homes and smaller businesses we now have a total of only 138 EDUs. That is about 14% less than they project! As a note, this reduces their projected yearly income from $163,200 to $140,760 a loss of almost $22,440. Can they pay the bills on that kind of income… the numbers say NO.
Now here is the real kicker in this EDU deal: We understand that the TSD will not be requiring anyone to connect to the system at this time. We believe that at least 35% if not more, of the homes will elect to not connect. This would bring the total EDUs down to an unsustainable 108 reflecting an income of only $110,160 a year. When you combine this with a projected $100,000 operating budget that would leave about $10,160 a year to pay for $3,000,000 in planned debt.
That our dear friends is UNSUSTAINABLE!
Let your voices be heard. Contact the Terrebonne Sanitary District by phone, their website, or attend their meetings. Times and dates of all meetings are posted on their website.
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