TWU to pay city $15K for administrative costs

Money covers city manager’s oversight of agency; Texas side expected to face similar vote this month

Texarkana, Ark., Board of Directors on Monday authorized payments from Texarkana Water Utilities and advanced a proposal to change certain city fees.

At its regular meeting at City Hall, the board passed a resolution allowing TWU to pay the city for administrative expenses. TWU will reimburse the city up to $15,000 per year for City Manager Kenny Haskin’s oversight of the agency.

The money is available in TWU’s operations and administration budget, and will go into the city’s general fund. It must come only from utility revenue generated by Arkansas-side TWU customers.

A similar measure is expected to

come before the Texarkana, Texas, City Council by the end of the month.

The board also heard a second reading of a proposed ordinance that would increase or add fees charged by Texarkana, Ark., Fire Department and the Animal Care and Adoption Center. The changes would generate about $100,000 in additional revenue a year, Finance Director TyRhonda Henderson has said.

TAFD conducts annual fire safety inspections free of charge. Under the proposal, inspections of day care centers and group homes would cost $40, and those of nursing homes and manufacturing facilities would cost $75. Hotel or motel inspections would cost $20 plus $2 per room. First re-inspections would be free, but second and subsequent re-inspections would cost $75.

The proposal would assess a fee for repeated false fire alarms, starting with a business’ or home’s fourth. False alarms four through six each would result in a $50 fee for a commercial building or a $35 fee for a residence. The seventh and subsequent false alarms would cost $75 for a commercial building or $45 for a residence.

Under the proposal, TAFD would charge a fee equal to 100 percent of the cost of materials it used to clean up hazardous materials. The cost of an openburn permit would double, from $100 to $200.

Several proposed fee increases for services at the Animal Care and Adoption Center are calculated to cover expenses the shelter is now paying out of pocket.

The first five days of holding an animal for another city would cost $150. After five days, the city would be charged an additional $10 per day.

Assisting an outside agency, except any on the Texas side, would result in a fee of $250.

The fee for quarantining animals suspected of having rabies would increase from $140 to $150. Specimen testing for rabies—currently free—would cost $40.

The cost of reclaiming an animal that required chemical capture would jump from $10 to $25, while boarding one would increase from $10 to $20 per day.

The fee to reclaim captured livestock would increase from $40 to $150 per animal, and a new livestock disposal fee would be $150 per animal.

The city license for any pet that has not been spayed or neutered would increase from $10 to $30.

The ordinance’s third and final reading will take place at the board’s next meeting, scheduled for April 17.

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