LINCOLN -- A proposal to raise sewer rates for local residents will be considered by Lincoln City Council at its March meeting.
The City Council decided last week to hold a public hearing on the proposed rate increase to allow citizens to make comments and ask questions. Council members also voted to change its monthly meeting from the third Monday of the month to the third Tuesday of the month. The change is to allow more time to receive financial reports.
The March meeting will be 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 17, at City Hall. A date for the public hearing has not been set.
City staff is proposing to increase sewer rates from $9.07 for the 1,000 gallons of water and $4 per for each subsequent 1,000 gallons to $22.08 for the first 1,000 gallons and $4.50 per thousand after that.
Chuck Wood, city business manager, said Lincoln has 983 customers, with the average household using 3,400 gallons of water per month. For the average user, the monthly sewer bill would be about $32.88 with the proposed increase, Wood said.
He is proposing an increase so that revenues received will pay the costs of operating the wastewater plant. For 2014, the sewer system received $227,000 in revenue and had $381,000 in expenses, according to city reports.
"I feel we desperately need it," Wood said last week after the Council meeting. "We need to get back on track. We've got to stop this cycle we're in."
Lincoln raised rates in 1998 and then again approved a three-tier rate increase from 2012-2104. Wood said these increases were required to meet standards mandated by Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The 1998 upgrade was required because the Lincoln system was not meeting nitrogen levels. ADEQ mandated nitrogen levels had to meet the standard at least 96 percent of the time. Lincoln's levels were dropping to 92 and 93 percent, Wood said.
The 2012 increase was required to meet phosphorus levels, only one part per million of phosphorus can be released into the Illinois River.
The result of the two mandates, Wood said, was that Lincoln had to pay $4.8 million for upgrades.
"We're $150,000 in the hole," Wood said, referring to revenue and expenses last year. In the past, he said, the City Council has just "kicked the can down the road," instead of addressing the problem.
"They didn't understand the necessity of increasing sewer rates," Wood said. "There's such a complexity of processing sewer so it can go back into the environment. It's cleaner going out (of the sewer plant) and than it is coming into the water treatment plant."
He added people just do not think about what all is involved in treating wastewater.
"Out of sight, out of mind," he added.
The rate increase would leave Lincoln with a projected $11,000 year-ending balance that could be used for repairs. Wood pointed out motors and pumps are expensive. Already this year, the city has spent $15,000 on two pumps. He also would like to save money each year from the sewer budget for a fund to repair infiltration and inflow problems with the city's 60-year-old sewer pipes.
General News on 02/18/2015