Decades-old snafu due to be rectified by city vote Tuesday

When the Greencastle City Council conducts its October meeting this coming Tuesday night, not only is it expected to adopt an ordinance raising water and sewer rates but it is also poised to clear up a 67-year-old property discrepancy.

While the proposed rate increases have been getting attention for several months now, the less-noteworthy vacation of alley rights-of-way between 905 and 907 S. Locust St. has laid dormant since 1947.

And now, almost 67 years to the date that the second of two legal ads for the proper vacation of the alleyway was published in The Daily Banner on Oct. 16, 1947, the matter is expected to be resolved with adoption of Ordinance 2014-8 on second reading.

Tuesday's public meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

At the Council's September meeting, City Planner Shannon Norman explained that the legal was properly published twice in 1947 but somehow the vacation never got recorded at the Putnam County Courthouse.

"Nobody knows what happened," Norman said, "there's no record of it anywhere."

One of the adjoining property owners, Wanda Twigg, 905 S. Locust St., said when she and her husband bought their house in 1987, the former owners handed them a yellowed newspaper clipping containing the published legal notice.

"They told us, 'You might need this piece of paper,'" Twigg said.

And they were correct -- albeit it three score and seven years later.

At stake in the matter is a 100-foot strip of undeveloped property -- a 12-foot-wide alleyway -- that will be divided between the adjacent property owners, who have maintained the extra bit of ground for years, Twigg said.

No one remonstrated against the vacation at the September Council session, making it likely that adoption is a mere formality. And this time Norman assures it will get recorded properly.

"Yes, folks, land use is fun and games," she commented following approval on first reading.

Meanwhile, the Council also will be considering second reading/adoption of Ordinance 2014-13 which includes three proposed rate increases necessary to fund Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) ordered changes to the city's water system. The measure was passed unanimously on first reading at the September Council meeting.

Those recommendations are:

-- A 47 percent water rate increase, effective Nov. 1.

-- An initial 11 percent sewage rate increase, also effective Nov. 1.

-- A second sewage rate increase of 14.4 percent, effective Jan. 1, 2016.

According to the City Utility Office, the average Greencastle user currently pays a total of $69.03 per month for water, sewage and trash (the latter is a $10-per-month fee).

The proposed 47 percent water rate increase will mean an additional $10.01 on that bill, while the initial sewage rate hike of 11.1 percent would add $3.99 per month for the average user.

Thus, the total increase (effective Nov. 1) for an average city user is expected to be $14 (plus tax), making the new average bill (for water, sewer and trash combined) approximately $85 per month.

Meanwhile, the minimum city user, currently paying $6.78 for water, would see that bill go to $9.97 (or up by $3.19) with the proposed 47 percent increase.

The minimum user, currently paying $17.18 for sewage, would see that bumped to $19.07 coinciding with the initial 11 percent rate hike. It would then jump to $21.82 when the additional 14.4 percent -- or overall 27 percent increase over the current rate -- sewage rate increase kicks in Jan. 1, 2016.

Adoption of the rate hikes on Tuesday will allow the city to close on a State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan this November to finance the necessary utility improvements.

Greencastle has not raised its utility rates since 2006, city officials have pointed out.