Rising rates vital to pay salaries
Water bills subsidize town council pay
The money Griffith collects from its utility bills is essential to paying the salaries of the Griffith Town Council.
As such, a council member’s base pay is funded 25% from water bills and 25% from sewer bills, with an additional 50% from “general” services (fire protection, trash collection), according to the 2023 Griffith Salary Ordinance.
The salary of the town council president, that being Councilman Rick Ryfa, R-3rd again this year, is funded 50% from both the water and sewer funds, with the rest coming from the town’s general fund.
Ryfa is set to earn $55,698 as council president in 2023, according to the salary ordinance. Like other town employees, he’s receiving a 4% raise, a $2,142 bump from his 2022 salary of $53,556. Police officers are receiving 8% raises in 2023.
As council president, Ryfa, who has worked as a de facto town manager since January 2020, receives an extra $1,520 bi-weekly ($39,520 per year) in addition to the $560 bi-weekly pay he receives as a councilman.
In becoming council president in 2020, Ryfa collected a $35,000 raise by unanimous consent, earning a $47,516 salary that year. At the time, town officials explained the arrangement as a cost-saving move so the town wouldn’t have to staff a town manager’s office, which they estimated the cost being between $200,000 and $300,000, and Ryfa assumed administrative leadership of Griffith town government.
Comparing the 2022 and 2023 salary ordinances, as provided by Clerk-Treasurer Gina Smith, all five council members are set for a $561 raise in 2023 to bring their base salaries up to $14,581 a year.
Comparatively, Highland’s
town council president had an $18,819 salary in 2022, while the other members were paid $17,871.
Griffith raising water rate by 15%
Now, the higher cost to bring fresh water to Griffith is triggering a net 15% increase in the town utility bills beginning in February, and the cost will keep going up for the next seven years.
The town delivered the fiscally charged news in a letter included with last month’s utility bill, informing of a water rate hike in response to what Hammond is charging Griffith and other communities that rely on its pipeline to Lake Michigan.
Most residential water meters in Griffith are either ⅝th inch or ¾th inch, which now come with a minimum monthly charge of $11.56. Consumption is $4.35 for the first 5,000 gallons, according to the town’s figures.
The rates for the other components of the utility bill — wastewater, stormwater (sewer), fire protection and trash disposal — will hold steady for 2023. To slightly offset the rate hike, there is a minor 1.12% reduction due to the elimination of the state’s Utility Receipts Tax, having been repealed by the Indiana General Assembly.
“The cost to purchase water from Hammond Water Works is currently 90% higher than before the increases,” the town wrote to residents. “By the year 2030, the increase from Hammond Water Works will be over 175% higher than before the increases.”
Town officials said that the Griffith Water Utility has been able to absorb part of the increases from Hammond, but “are now forced to pass along the increase to keep the water utility solvent.” They said the last water rate increase was in 2013.