CONNEAUT — City Council has a few more days to find a compromise between a sewer rate hike costly to customers or crimping the financial life line to a crucial municipal department.
Council, at Monday's regular meeting, moved to a third and final reading legislation that would impose a 20 percent rate hike on the city's sewer customers. It's believed the issue will be settled at a special meeting next week.
City Manager Robert Schaumleffel Jr., implored council to act quickly on the matter, saying a prolonged delay could work a hardship on the 2010 budget enacted late last month.
In recent weeks, council has learned the rate hike would raise about $400,000, money needed to pare down debt the sewer fund has accumulated through various capital improvement projects. Some of the debt stems from improvement or expansion projects that date back nearly 40 years.
Various state agencies that have loaned the city money for waste water projects are afraid the city's current rates won't raise enough money to repay the loans, administrators have said.
The administration says it must seek a rate hike to deal with the debt because revenue is lagging. Customers — industrial, commercial and residential — aren't using as much water, and sewer rates are pegged to a formula based on water usage, officials have said.
Council is loathe to enact a 20 percent hike, wary of the cost to consumers. That jump would add $5.76 to the bill of the average residential customer ($3.44 monthly for customers at the minimum level).
Craig Pierce, plant superintendent, outlined some of those options Monday night. A 15 percent rate hike would require his department to trim his budget by some $133,000 annually. A 10 percent hike would eliminate two maintenance positions at the plant in addition to the $133,000 reduction.
Overtime would jump as remaining staff try to fill the two vacancies, Pierce said.
The loss of workers could also have a ripple effect — waste water treatment workers sometimes lend a hand to the Public Works Department, which is also short-handed. Most recently, sewage plant employees helped plow snow, Pierce said.
Some remedies may be riding to the rescue of water/sewer revenue, led by the automatic meter reading system to be installed this year. The AMR is expected to keep better tabs of water running through meters, and could boost revenue by some $160,000.
Councilman-at-Large Robert Naylor served as council spokesman for a presentation he said spelled out council's understanding of the situation. Much of the information came from debate at a council retreat held Saturday, he said.
Whatever the decision, council plans to revisit the situation during the year to see if a revision is in order, Naylor said. Also, any rate hike approved by council could expired at the end of 2010, he said.
In other business, council moved to a third reading an ordinance that would give a 3.5 percent pay increase to the city's department supervisors and non-union employees. The proposed wage jump would be equal to the increase union workers received in 2009.
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