Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lincoln Mulls Rate Increase
Public Hearing Precedes Council Meeting
LINCOLN — A public hearing, preceding the regular council meeting, was held Monday at City Hall on an ordinance to revise water, sewer and solid waste rates.
Mayor Rob Hulse opened the meeting to any suggestions from the few people who attended the hearing. Kenneth Reeves was the first to address the mayor and council members.
Reeves said he’s concerned about a rate increase due to about 70 percent of Lincoln residents being low income households. He is currently president of the Chamber of Commerce and said he’s also concerned about higher utility rates turning away possible business prospects.
“I feel it could hinder business coming in here,” Reeves said. “If their bills will be less, they’ll just go to other towns. I know there’s a need for an increase, but I’m wondering if there’s any budget cuts that can be made, grants out there and anything else that could help,” Reeves said.
“From what I understand it’s a 22 percent increase and that’s quite a bit,” Reeves added.
Reeves said he had been in touch with Justin Harris, state representative, to see what kind of help might be available to the city without a rate increase. He was told the state does have some improvement funds that no one has applied for, as well as a few other possibilities.
“There are other options out there,” Reeves said. “I would ask you to look at them.”
Bill Bush said he agreed with Reeves. He suggested cutting the city’s budget.
“With the economy like it is — learn to tighten the belt,” Bush said.
Jim Morris was the last one to speak out. “I’m kind of flying blind here,” Morris said, adding he had been out of town. “I know there are standards we have to meet for sewer, and those are going to drastically tighten. If it’s not for improvements, I agree with Ken and Bill.
When no one else spoke up about the rate hike, Hulse told the three he appreciated their input.
Hulse then called the city council meeting to order.
Council members had passed the first meeting of the ordinance to adopt revised water, sewer and solid waste rates at the December meeting. It was at that time Steve Parker, city attorney, stated water rates could be raised, but a public hearing had to be held on raising sewer rates.
The city ran an announcement about the public hearing in the Dec. 21, 2011 issue of the Enterprise-leader.
The council, mayor and city administrator Chuck Wood addressed the suggestions and concerns of those who spoke at the public hearing.
‘It has been 14 years since sewer rates were raised,” Wood said. “We’ve been funding the system out of water and we can’t afford to do this anymore.”
Wood said the city has been doing the best it could, however, cost for materials had risen as well as other costs.
“Inflation has hit cities just like people’s homes,” Hulse said.
Todd Beaver with Mcclel- land Consulting Engineers has been working with Wood to come up with the least expensive way to update the aging sewer lines in Lincoln, as well as meet demand by Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.
Beaver told the council and those attending the meeting that a lot of grants available were for the newer green projects.
“What your dealing with is not environmental,” Beaver said. “Grants are also based on a sliding scale regarding rates.”
Rhonda Hulse said Lincoln’s rates are not high enough to even be considered for a grant.
“It’s fairly complicated,” Beaver said.
Beaver said Lincoln, like all other cities in the Illinois River Watershed, are having to deal with ADEQ on the rules to limit the amount of phosphorous in the system.
“No one wants to raise rates,” Hulse said, but he reminded everyone that ADEQ will start to fine the city $25,000 per day if the city doesn’t make updates to the system. He added the city could be fined as early as October 2012.
Wood said he had tried to come up with the best solution. He also recommended the three-year step increase so households wouldn’t get a raise in rates all at once.
“The only way to get the funds we need is to raise rates,” Wood said.
“It caught up with us,” Alderman Bob Mcdonald said about the city not having enough funds to update the system and meet demands by recently passed laws.
Doug Moore said something should have been done three years ago.
According to the figures presented by Wood, the average household that uses 1,000-3,700 gallons per month of water would see a rate increase between $23 dollars. By the third year, when the final increase kicked in, an average household’s bill would increase by about $ 7. The average sewer rate would be about the same.
Council members voted to suspend the rules on the second and third reading of the ordinance. The ordinance was adopted by a unanimous vote.
Next Issue: Coucil casts votes for special election.