A couple of extra line items were included on August utility bills for Trenton Municipal Utility customers.
An average residential water user had a $3.00 water primacy fee and an 80 cent sewer connect fee. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources charges the fees every August.
Two percent of the primacy fee goes to the local public water system to cover the costs of collecting the fee and the remainder is forwarded to the Missouri Department of Revenue for use by Missouri DNR’s Public Drinking Water Branch.
The department uses the primacy fee to fund testing for drinking water contaminants, inspections, compliance activities, complaint investigations, and technical assistance.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services began receiving an appropriation from the primacy fee in 2010 for bacteriological work, which was previously funded by general revenue. The fee generates about four point six million dollars per year statewide.
DNR charges the sewer connect fee according to the rules and requirements of the State Operating Permit under the Missouri Clean Water Law. The sewer connect fee is used throughout Missouri for the operation of public sewer systems.
