Decision nears on city water rate hike

Whether the proposed city water rate hike comes in one, two or three stages, it is coming and likely will impact users on their January billing.

A joint meeting between the Greencastle City Council and Board of Works Wednesday evening failed to resolve the actually extent of the rate increase. That outcome is expected next month after City Clerk-Treasurer Lynda Dunbar has a chance to run some new figures and produce a revised ledger of numbers for the Council and Board of Works to digest.

Wednesday night members of those two groups looked at a proposed one-time increase, pegged at 18.2 percent if the city is successful in obtaining a $700,000 Office of Community and Rural Affairs Office (OCRA) to help fund some pressing needs of the Water Department, including repainting of the water tower near Forest Hill Cemetery.

That 18.2 percent increase would raise the present rate of $4.47 for the first 2,000 cubic feet of water used to $5.28. The next 8,000 cubic feet would jump from $2.81 to $3.32, while users of more than 10,000 cubic feet would see a $2.26 rate go to $2.67.

Should the city not receive the OCRA grant, a one-time increase of 24.4 percent would bump the $4.47 figure for the first 2,000 cubic feet of water to $5.56, while the next 8,000 cubic feet would go from $2.81 at present to $3.50 and users of more than 10,000 cubic feet would see a rate hike from $2.26 to $2.81.

A three-pronged increase discussed Wednesday night is proposed at 10 percent the first year, 8.22 percent the second year, and -- if the city is unsuccessful in obtaining the $700,000 grant -- a third year at 6.19 percent.

That would see the $4.47 rate for 2,000 cubic feet of water jump to $4.91 in year one, $5.32 in year two and $5.65 in year three. At the 8,000-cubic-foot level the present rate of $2.81 would jump to $3.09 in year one, $3.35 in year two and $3.55 in year three.

The rate for users of more than 10,000 cubic feet of water would go from its current $2.26 mark to $2.49 in year one, $2.69 in year two and $2.86 in year three.

“We’re going to erase 2020 from our minds,” City Clerk-Treasurer Lynda Dunbar said as the discussion began at City Hall.

“Can we?” Council President Mark Hammer responded.

Dunbar said that “probably with the condition of things, (the three-stage increase) would be better for everyone.”

That is a way, she said, “to ease the burden on some folks who can’t take a big 18 percent increase.”

Later in discussion Hammer calculated that the current minimum monthly bill would be expected to go up by $6 (including effects of the rate hike and a proposed monthly $3.86 fire hydrant charge for fire protection). The average monthly bill, he said, would likely see an $8.50 increase.

There is no increase planned for the wastewater portion of utility bills this time. However, it was noted that the city’s trash contract expires in November and a new contract is likely to mean an increase and a possible change in recycling. In some cities, trash haulers are charging to pick up recycling now since there are little markets for recyclables any more. The city trash fee has not changed since 2004, City Attorney Laurie Hardwick said, noting that is when it went from $9 a month to $10.

Back to the water issue, Board of Works members Trudy Selvia and Craig Tuggle stressed that the city should not be selling water (to large users) for less than it costs to produce it.

“The system has been paying for it far too long,” Selvia said, suggesting that the city should not go another six years without a rate hike.

Councilman Jake Widner asked whether it was possible to address water rates on an annual basis.

“It seems like we kick the can, kick the can, kick the can until something has to be addressed,” Widner said.

While addressing it annually is probably not cost-effective because of the expense of rate studies and other costs of advertising the rate increase, Mayor Bill Dory said there’s “probably a realistic way to look at it every two years.”

“It takes a lot of staff time to put this together,” the mayor also noted in addressing the efforts of City Clerk-Treasurer Dunbar, Deputy Clerk-Treasurer Melanie Welker and City Attorney Hardwick among others.

The key to keeping the increases as manageable as possible is a five-year plan being developed, Dunbar said. “We can review this every year, what’s been done, what needs to be done ... that way a rate study could be looked at every year.

“It’s a working document,” she said of the five-year plan. “As long as it’s working every year, we can adjust.”

The water rate increase, once established, will go before Board of Works, which will make a recommendation and send it to the City Council. That will likely happen at the October Board of Works session, although it is possible the Board of Works will have a special meeting early in the month in order to put the matter in front of the Council at its October meeting (Oct. 8).

The Council would then need to approve the ordinance for a water rate increase at two separate sessions, including one to be preceded by a public hearing on the proposed rate hike. City ratepayers will be informed of the public hearing via a notice in their next water bill, it was noted.

Board of Works members Dory, Selvia and Tuggle were joined for the nearly two-hour meeting by City Council members Hammer, Widner, Adam Cohen, Veronica Pejril and Dave Murray at City Hall and Stacie Langdon and Cody Eckert via Zoom.