Water rates may be rising in the Boothbay region. A preliminary study shows the Boothbay Region Water District needs a 11.4 percent rate increase to meet future operational costs.

Operations Manager Jon Ziegra presented the district’s trustees with the initial studies provided by the Maine Water Company, a private Biddeford firm, which began examining the district’s rates in January.

The preliminary review indicates a rate increase is necessary to meet the district’s current commitments and five-year capital and improvement plan. The trustees voted unanimously Aug. 12 to take the next step in pursuing a possible rate hike. The trustees authorized spending up to $4,000 to pursue a rate case authorization from the Maine Public Utility Commission.

“This is not the fully dressed up version, which is forthcoming,” Ziegra told the trustees. “But the math is calling for an 11.4 percent increase. Right now I’m just trying to gauge the feelings of the trustees and get the ball rolling.”

This would be the district’s first rate increase in five years. The Public Utility Commission approved the district’s 14 percent rate increase in 2011. Ziegra described the current rate review as less costly than the previous one. In 2011, the rate review cost is $20,000, according to Ziegra.

“It’s a lot less than I thought it would be,” he said.

In other action, Ziegra provided good news for customers who are eagerly anticipating the district’s new online bill paying service. The district is expecting to provide the new service a month earlier than expected.

“The service should be operational Oct. 1 instead of Nov. 1,” Ziegra said. “Implementation is moving faster than anticipated, so it should be operational a month earlier.”

Ziegra reported customer responses to the new service as being “overwhelming positive.” He expects, within a year, that 25 percent of customers will use the service.

The district is also planning on moving a Plummer Road sign in Southport to Sawyer’s Pond Road after receiving several complaints. The sign describes the project as a United States Department of Agriculture funded project. According to Ziegra, that the majority of complaints came from Plummer Road residents.

“We received a federal grant, so the sign is required. So we just can’t take it down,” Ziegra said.

The trustees decided to move the sign closer to where the project was taking place. The Southport Interconnection and Tank Replacement Project began in November. The task is a $3.4 million project to provide water and fire protection services to the town.

The trustees will meet next at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 25 in the business office.