Will consider the increase two more times before it’s finalized
The Jefferson city council at its Sept. 10 meeting voted to increase water rates by 5 percent, but two more readings will be held of the needed amendment to city ordinance.
City administrator Scott Peterson explained the rate increase is needed to keep up with expenses and to save for capital projects in the future. He said the last several years, the city has supplemented water revenue with funds from the local option sales/service tax, to the tune of $70,000. “The idea of having these utilities is that they be self-supporting, that the expenses are paid out of the revenues generated,” Peterson said.
He added that LOSST revenue could be used for other capital expenditures if it were not going to balance the water fund.
Peterson said the council’s water/streets committee had agreed an increase in rates is appropriate, but there was conversation about whether to propose a 3 or 5 percent increase.
Council member Harry Ahrenholtz supports a 5 percent increase because it would let water revenue support water costs, and that the larger increase is needed to set money aside for upcoming large expenses. “The (rate) increases are going to be annual. They have to be annual, and if we can level it out and stay in the 5 percent range that would be better than skimping now and have to pay back later on,” he said.
He said that based on what has happened in the past, a 5 percent increase every year is very likely.
Peterson said the city needs to set money aside to paint the water tower in the rather near future, and to replace the water treatment plant. The capital improvement plan calls for replacing the water treatment plan in 9-10 years.
Peterson also said that the cost of water treatment chemicals increases more than 3 percent each year.
City clerk Roxanne Gorsuch declined to estimate how much customers’ water bills would increase because of variables like household size and a family’s water use habits.
City council member Chad Sloan would prefer a 3 percent increase. “There’s a lot of folks that just can’t afford a lot of things, and now we’ve got trees that are going to be coming down everywhere… Maybe we can give people a little something back. Maybe we can find a way to get different chemical suppliers or do something else that would save a little money on the water end and do some due diligence there,” he said. “The sewer goes up every year and the water goes up every year. That starts getting expensive for a lot of people.”
The council voted 4-1 to approve a 5 percent increase, with Sloan casting the dissenting vote. The council will hold two more readings of the ordinance to increase before it becomes final.
Peterson reminded the council the Iowa Department of Transportation will hold an informational meeting about the proposed remarking of Hwy 4 (Elm St) in Jefferson from four lanes to three. The meeting is slated for Monday, Sept. 23, at 5:30 pm at the Greene County Community Center.
Gary Turner, a resident of northwest Jefferson who has visited several times with the council about junk trailers and other items in his neighbor’s yard, thanked the council and staff for finally having the unsightly yard cleaned up. He said four or five trailers have been hauled away. “Thank you very much. I thought I would be looking at junk trailers till the day I die, but they’re gone,” Turner said.
