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By Rusty Nixon
Correspondent
LAKE OF THE WOODS — In an economy of rising costs and taxes, one local municipality is a quiet success story.
For the second time in the last four years, the Lake of the Woods Regional Sewer District has actually cut its rates to customers. Board member Joe Skelton attributes the success to good management.
“We have a new board in and they really started watching costs and working the budget,” said Skelton. “We’ve been able to do a lot of good maintenance and save money.”
Class A users of the facility paid $51.89 a year ago. For the coming year their cost will be $46.83.
While watching costs, the board has not sacrificed service to its customers.
“We started doing yearly maintenance on the pump stations,” said Skelton. “Up front that cost us a little money, but getting everything fine tuned and maintained has saved us money in the long run. Having Bill Read on the board – who handles the city of Bremen’s storm water – has really been a help.”
In 1993 the lake decided to construct it’s own sewer system out of concern for the lake itself.
“We wanted to stop pollution coming into the lake,” said Skelton. “We had E Coli getting into the lake and, really, it was for our health too. Who wants to swim in a lake that has E Coli in it?”
The adding of the sewer system also had another immediate benefit.
“They told us that property value would go up, but they tripled. I never expected that,” said Skelton. “It also helped increase development. People had lots that they couldn’t build on before, but with the sewer they could. That added property to the tax rolls.”
The success of the Lake of the Woods model – the first sewer system on a lake in Marshall County – led to Pretty Lake in Plymouth constructing a similar project and Lake Maxinkuckee in Culver also working on their own sewer system.
“Everybody wants to protect their lake,” said Skelton. “We’re very blessed in the northern part of the state to have all our natural lakes. We need to take care of them.”
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