Monroe City Council Moves Forward with Sewer Rate Rescission
By: Nina Criscuolo
Updated: January 8, 2013
The Monroe City Council starts the new year with a couple hot topics concerning crime and sewer rates.
Early in Tuesday's meeting, the council unanimously removed the resolution to create a crime review committee from the agenda, but the sewer rates spurred a heated debate.
"Let's rescind it. Let's come back after two weeks and have a final vote on it," says Chairman Eddie Clark.
Clark was one council member who opposed the rate increase in November, when the council voted to increase sewer rates for the first time since 1998 to $3.55 per thousand gallons water used.
"A lot of our neighboring communities are in the four-dollar range," says Councilwoman Gretchen Ezernack.
It's a topic water users in Monroe are passionate about.
Nell Bradley says "Some sort of a rate increase has to be, but we need to check where we're wasting money else where."
But it's the automatic increase portion of the ordinance city council members disagree with as a group.
"I think there is a compromise there. If the automatic increase is the problem, let's address the automatic increase," says Ezernack.
"That's what we're there for as city council persons, to make sure our constituents are well-informed and well-aware of rate increases before they take place, not after they take place," says Clark.
The increase would be decided by the consumer product index, or CPI, each yea. Then reviewed by the city council after five years, according to the ordinance in place. So council members want to rescind the ordinance all together and come back with just a rate increase, without the automatic increases for the following years. It's a move City Attorney Nancy Summersgill says could have been taken care of with a simple amendment.
"Tomatoes, tomatas... Whether you do it by rescission or by amendment we just need to get it done. Go ahead and increase the rates to the recommended rate and then put a period at the end of it," says Clark.
The council will move forward with a final vote on the rescission of the ordinance at the January 22 meeting.
Early in Tuesday's meeting, the council unanimously removed the resolution to create a crime review committee from the agenda, but the sewer rates spurred a heated debate.
"Let's rescind it. Let's come back after two weeks and have a final vote on it," says Chairman Eddie Clark.
Clark was one council member who opposed the rate increase in November, when the council voted to increase sewer rates for the first time since 1998 to $3.55 per thousand gallons water used.
"A lot of our neighboring communities are in the four-dollar range," says Councilwoman Gretchen Ezernack.
It's a topic water users in Monroe are passionate about.
Nell Bradley says "Some sort of a rate increase has to be, but we need to check where we're wasting money else where."
But it's the automatic increase portion of the ordinance city council members disagree with as a group.
"I think there is a compromise there. If the automatic increase is the problem, let's address the automatic increase," says Ezernack.
"That's what we're there for as city council persons, to make sure our constituents are well-informed and well-aware of rate increases before they take place, not after they take place," says Clark.
The increase would be decided by the consumer product index, or CPI, each yea. Then reviewed by the city council after five years, according to the ordinance in place. So council members want to rescind the ordinance all together and come back with just a rate increase, without the automatic increases for the following years. It's a move City Attorney Nancy Summersgill says could have been taken care of with a simple amendment.
"Tomatoes, tomatas... Whether you do it by rescission or by amendment we just need to get it done. Go ahead and increase the rates to the recommended rate and then put a period at the end of it," says Clark.
The council will move forward with a final vote on the rescission of the ordinance at the January 22 meeting.
