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Because the Long Lake sewer fee is significantly lower than the Orono sewer fee, it is <br /> possible to pay the full Long Lake sewer fee, while still having a portion of the Orono fee <br /> available for Orono sewer costs. The remaining questions are whether the remaining <br /> portion of the Orono fee is sufficient to cover the share of Orono's overall sewer costs <br /> related to the properties connected to Long Lake, and whether this revenue split is a <br /> reasonable solution. <br /> Orono's quarterly sewer fee is $96. This fee is higher than the average fees charged by <br /> other cities, due mainly to the operation and maintenance costs for 45 sewer lift <br /> stations. The MCES charges are about 35% of the sewer system operating cost, or $35 per <br /> quarter, which leaves $61 per quarter for system operation and maintenance. <br /> Long Lake's sewer fee is proposed to be about $67 per quarter which covers the MCES <br /> treatment charges in addition to the Long Lake system operation and maintenance costs. <br /> After factoring out the $35 per quarter MCES charges from both Orono's $96 sewer fee, <br /> and Long Lake's $67 fee, the revenue that would be available to cover Orono's sewer <br /> maintenance costs would be reduced by $29 per property per quarter, or a total of$23,200 <br /> per year based on the 200 units connected to the Long Lake system. This is about 4% of <br /> the annual budget for the operation and maintenance of the Orono sewer system. The 200 <br /> units are about 10% of the total sewer units in Orono. <br /> Although the Long Lake fees would reduce Orono's revenues, the amount of the fee is <br /> within the range of reasonableness. <br />