BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Carroll citizens want more say in how much they pay for water.

Residents in the Freedom area near Sykesville, where about 10,000 hook up to county water, want a panel formed to help decide how their water rates are decided and adjusted each year.

“We don’t have control over our own water rates; it’s all controlled by the county,” said Nicole Musgrave-Burdette, head of the Freedom Area Citizens’ Council, a community group for residents in the unincorporated area.

“So whenever the county needs money for a new water project, it basically gets divided up between all the people in Sykesville and Eldersburg who are on county water.”

This year, Comptroller Robert Burk has proposed that water and sewer rates increase about 2.3 percent for most residents, who use about 24,000 gallons per quarter. That means they would have to pay about $24 more this year, about $1,076.

Commissioners would have to approve the rates.

The proposed increase this year is about a third of the 6 percent that rates were raised last year. Every year the county plans to increase rates to keep up with inflation and the rising costs of electricity and fuel, Burk said.

“The same things that are hitting a household, making it difficult right now with electricity and fuel, are hitting our utilities,” Burk said.

“Our motto has been keep rates moving with the costs. Yes, that’s been painful every year, but at least we’re not looking at some substantial increase.”

But Freedom residents aren’t satisfied. They want to know exactly how the rates are calculated, and they want more of an influence in the process.

Creating a citizens water board to work with county officials was the council’s top priority this year.

“We know there’s an issue with the rates going up, and no one around here really has any say,” Musgrave-Burdette said. “It’s been something that’s been one of our priorities for years.”

She feared creating an advisory board that would be similar to the commissioner-appointed Environmental Advisory Council, which can only make recommendations. The EAC advised against a waste-to-energy incinerator, but commissioners recently voted to move forward with a plan to partner with Frederick County to build an incinerator.

msilvestri@baltimoreexaminer.com