Council: Water rates must go up in Manderson

A water rate increase was approved at the Manderson Town Council meeting on March 14. Council members and the mayor explained that rates must go up.
Councilman Tim Patrick opened the discussion. “We’ve got what we call an enterprise account. Which has got to be self-sufficient. We can’t take from Peter to pay Paul.” By taking the town’s eight months into the fiscal year and dividing it by 12, he came up with a total income the town is going to produce through water, sewer and mosquitos through the end of June. “Right now, we are sitting at $69,425 in total income at fiscal year-end.”
“Don’t take what I am going to say next to heart because we can’t do it. We don’t do it; we’ve got to figure out a different way. Our total expenses on our enterprise account is $102,675. Our total income is $69,425.”
The remaining deficit comes to $33,250.
To make up that deficit, the town would have to increase the water rate $55.41 per tap. Patrick recognized that this is not an increase the residents of Manderson can handle and that the Town needs to come up with a plan or it will be in trouble with the state.
Considering the 10% increase to the town from the water district and state requirements, the town must raise rates to build a reserve fund for the enterprise fund. It currently has no money to fix water line breaks or major damages to the system.
The councilman presented the following numbers to the council: an increase of $7 for water and $5 for sewer, resulting in a $12 total increase to the base rate.
Councilwoman Julie Williams explained that the town is charged per tap size by the water district. There are ¾ inch, 1 inch and 1 ½ inch taps. The town itself has ¾ inch taps for the shop, town hall, sewer and a bulk water dispenser.
She also noted three derelict properties in town that have not paid for a year and 18 delinquent accounts. The combination puts a burden on the rest of the town to pay those tap fees. The town currently pays $1,866 to the water district for all the taps. That number is increasing.
“The Town is already tapped out,” Williams said. “It has no other choice but to increase the bills to cover the per tap rate, to build a reserve and to at least break even on what it is paying out versus what is coming in.”
The councilwoman added that test fees for water can range from $800-$3,500 a month depending on the number of tests needed. Sometimes samples are sent to yet another company, who in turn bill the Town around $5,000 to fix the issue. This has occurred a couple of times a year.
Previously the Town has discussed working with other nearby towns to do their own sampling and having one person take all the samples to a lab at the same time. Councilman Patrick said he would do some research on this again. He believed it would be cost saving for the town.
Audience member Bugs Chambers addressed the council. She said, “You guys are wanting to save money and get that enterprise rebuilt, but like last year you guys wanted to hire Chris Saunders to be the maintenance guy. He already had his water and sewer certificates. If you did that, hired someone for maintenance that already has those licenses, that’s going to save you $175 a month.”
Saunders, who was in the audience, said he does not have those licenses yet. Chambers said maybe having those licenses should be a stipulation for the maintenance position.
Mayor Rod Patrick said having those licenses was a stipulation for the past two maintenance staffers. Neither one passed the test. He stated that a level two operator is required for the sewer and a level one for the water. Licensing does not happen overnight, thus the Town will still need to use the current operators for another year. He added, “I was licensed, I would know.”
The council also discussed what to charge per gallon for those who went over the 1,000 gallons included in the base water rate.
Councilman Patrick made a motion to increase the base water rate by $7, increase the base sewer rate by $5 and charge 50 cents per gallon for any usage over 1,000 gallons. The motion carried.
Another motion was made that the Town be billed for its three active and one inactive tap. The money will come from the general fund. The motion carried.
LATE FEES
The clerk report was given by Williams earlier in the meeting. Williams reminded the council that the state auditor had reinforced that late fees on overdue water bills must be charged. The town ordinance states that bills are due on the 20th of the month. Williams said the ordinance would have to be changed if the Town didn’t want to charge late fees. As it stands, the fees must be charged.
Mayor Patrick inquired about the Town changing the ordinance from the 20th of each month to the 30th. Williams indicated she was in favor of this, as some residents don’t receive their checks until the end of a month. She didn’t want to penalize them because of that.
The mayor believed the issue could be resolved through a resolution.
WATER SHUT OFFS
The mayor stated that so many residents were behind on their water bills that shut off notices had to be sent. Councilman Patrick addressed the issue since he has been doing a lot of work on the issue.
In the council’s package was a water account report. Certain accounts were highlighted. Councilman Patrick asked that during the discussion, the names on the accounts not be said.
Addressing the audience, he continued that seven days after March 15, water will be shut off for those behind unless they made arrangements with the Town for payment. “Ninety percent of the town pays its bills. Eighteen accounts are delinquent. We have to get tough on this.”
Councilwoman Bury agreed, noting it wasn’t fair to those who paid their bills on time. Councilman Patrick stated that the Manderson Police officers would deliver shut off notices the following day (March 15).