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For the second time in as many months, the Warsaw City Council Monday approved on first reading an ordinance establishing new sewer rates by a vote of 5-2.
The second reading and the coinciding public hearing on the new proposal will be at 7 p.m. Nov. 20 at city hall. An ordinance must pass on two separate readings to be approved.
At the Oct. 16 city council meeting, by a vote of 4-3, the board defeated the original proposal on second reading. During a special meeting Oct. 27, the council reached a consensus to move forward with a new proposal for Monday’s meeting.
The only difference between the new proposal and the first one is the charge for maintaining the billing department. The billing component would be reduced to the number of bills a multi-family unit receives. In a four-unit multi-family, where only one bill is provided for all four units, there would be one billing fee of $3.79.
The flow rate, based on 4,800 gallons, is $5.65 per 1,000 gallons, a 20 percent increase over the 2008 rate. There also is a charge for the collection system of $8.21.
Therefore, based on 4,800 gallons, a single-family home would pay $39.12 monthly; the first unit of a four-unit dwelling would pay $39.12; and the other three units would pay $35.33. That fee structure would be extrapolated out to the number of units.
While the new ordinance reduces a charge multi-family dwellings would pay, it could potentially leave the city short more than $111,000 per year in revenue needed to cover expenses of both phases of the project.
By the council approving the new proposal Monday, Randy Rompola, with Barnes & Thornburg, bond counsel, said it could not re-introduce the proposal that was defeated Oct. 16 because that would be an increase in rates over what will be advertised for the public hearing on Nov. 20.
The city is looking at a $41 million sewer project, including $10 million in improvements to sewer lines and manholes in phase I. Bids for those improvements were opened Friday during the Board of Public Works and Safety meeting.
Phase II would be a $30 million expansion of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, which is mandated by the state that would be funded with another proposed increase in the sewer rate.
After Mayor Joe Thallemer turned the meeting over to the council for discussion on the sewer rate, Council President Mike Klondaris asked Jeffrey P. Rowe, H.J. Umbaugh & Associates partner, “Should we pass an ordinance where every dwelling unit doesn’t have to pay $3.79, you came up with a rough number of $100,000 (in lost revenue). Were you able to come up with something a little more accurate maybe? That is a concern. We have to pay for this.”
Rowe said, “The total amount is just over $111,000 annually. So, to the extent that this ordinance would move forward, then there would need to be some consideration made with the second phase part of the project, a second phase increase to account for that reduction of $111,000. Got to make it up.”
Councilman Ron Shoemaker asked if the problem was that the city’s rates were not sufficient to spread the costs out equitably. Homes on wells are being charged for 4,800 gallons, when he said the average is more like 4,200 and trending downward. Shoemaker said he got those figures from Indiana American Water Company. “I would think there’s someway to make this an equitable distribution other than somebody saying I’m paying less and someone paying more,” he said.
Rowe said as the city moves forward with transitioning billing from a flat rate to a metered rate, there will have to be some discussion on usage patterns. To the extent that usage goes down, “any reduction in revenuethat occurs, it would have to be made up somehow,” he said.
