City residents can expect water rate hike Jan. 1

Greencastle residents haven’t seen a water rate increase since 2014, but they can expect one by the time we ring in 2021.

That’s what the Board of Works was told at its September meeting.

Asked the soonest that residents could expect an increase, City Clerk-Treasurer Lynda Dunbar said new rates would be in place Jan. 1.

“That’s optimistic,” Board of Works member Trudy Selvia responded.

“We’ll make it,” Dunbar said. “Laurie (City Attorney Hardwick) says it’ll work.”

At this point, city officials haven’t even established how large an increase can be expected. That could come out of a 5 p.m. Wednesday special meeting between the Board of Works and City Council. It will be preceded by a 4:30 Board of Works special session.

If the city had done a small rate increase each year instead of going six to 10 years without one, “we’d probably be in better shape than we are now,” Dunbar suggested.

Mayor Bill Dory noted that there are “a certain amount of fixed costs whether we sell one gallon or a million.”

And now, he added, Duke Energy is raising electricity costs by 12 percent and city health insurance costs are going up along with other factors can result in a need for a rate hike.

As the city is selling less water, it “doesn’t have the ability to out and get more water users,” Dunbar said.

“Most of our folks aren’t big users,” Mayor Dory added, noting that usage has been flat with a lot of users installing low-flow showerheads or toilets to keep their water use down.

Proposed as part of the water rate increase is a monthly fire protection charge of $3.86 per residence as payment shifts from the city to the ratepayers. Monthly rates will be based on meter size, it was pointed out.

Meanwhile, there will not be any need for a wastewater rate increase this time around, Dunbar told the Board of Works.

“The plant has been redone and is much better shape than it was five years ago,” Selvia said.

Dunbar added that 2022 will be ”totally debt-free out at the wastewater plant. It’s holding its own.”

The city got some good news concerning the water tower repainting project. An engineering report stated that project could be delayed for two or three years, which will give the city time to apply for an Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) grant.

The proposed cost of the repainting project and assorted add-ons is $1.2 million. The maximum possible OCRA grant would be $700,000, the mayor said, adding, “so we could basically save our ratepayers $700,000.”

The tower repainting project could potentially be included in a bundle of system wide projects that could total $1.2 million to maximize the potential grant amount, the mayor said.

"We are working on a potential list of projects to run by OCRA for their initial review prior to the future grant application," Dory added. "As with any grant application, there is never any guarantee of funding."

The engineering report on the water tower also detailed some safety issues that can be tackled internally, such as relocating cables, relocating safety light and replacing vents.

In other business, the Board of Works:

-- Approved replacement of a water line on Eagle Court at a cost of $8,750. The project will replace 200 feet of 35-year-old cast-iron pipe with plastic. JAMRR Excavating was awarded the contract.

-- Approved a sewer leak adjustment of $1,112 for Humphreys’ Outdoor Power following an outdoor water leak.

-- Heard Mayor Dory report that the city has been working with the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) as “a hardship case” on the new waterline that will follow U.S. 231 through the downtown. Seen as a $2 million project, the city will only have to pay 20 percent of the cost due to INDOT’s involvement in the project that will redo U.S. 231 through the downtown. The water line being replaced is the original line from the water plant installed in the 1880s or 1890s, Water Department spokesman Ed Phillips said. The Greencastle Redevelopment Commission will pick up the matching portion of the project, Dory noted.

Joining Selvia, Mayor Dory and City Clerk Dunbar for the recent September meeting were Board of Works member Craig Tuggle, City Councilor Stacie Langdon and Water and Wastewater Supt. Oscar King Jr.