Proposal made to fix business water rates within Plains

PLAINS – The Public Works Committee met on Thursday, January 16 to continue the discussion on business water rates.

In the last meeting, the town attempted to get on track with the ordinance – an ordinance that states all businesses need to be billed at the 1.79 rate. 

The public meeting was held to throw around more ideas and to get one step closer to finding a solution to the problem. 

Chairman of the committee, Carl Reeb, said the goal was to get everyone on an equal playing field.

Currently 49 of the 65 businesses have a ¾ inch line and are not being charged the 1.79 rate like stated in the ordinance. 

The difference comes down to about $30 a month in most cases.

Committee member and council member, Dan Rowan, proposed to correct the multiplier. 

When the city voted on the $2 increase that occurred in 2013, the increase occurred across the line when instead a multiplier should have been used. 

Since a multiplier was not used, the city experienced a short fall.

Although the town realized the problem at the time, the pending loan documents restricted the amount of time the town had to correct the problem.

The council decided then that if an amendment was made in the future, they would correct the problem.

“If we correct the multiplier…that will be more money for the city,” Rowan said. 

More money for the city means Plains would be able to build up their reserve fund – something that can quickly be eaten up by maintenance fees. 

Currently the base rate for a ¾ inch line is 17.04. If the multipliers were corrected, a one-inch line would have a multiplier of 1.79; a 1 ½ inch line would have a multiplier of 4; a two-inch line a multiplier of 7.14; a three-inch line a multiplier of 16, and a four-inch line a multiplier of 28.57.

So users with a one-inch line would pay a difference of $1.58, while businesses with a four-inch line would pay a difference of $55.14.

At the proposed multipliers everyone would pay the same per gallon. With the current system in place, ¾ inch lines actually pay more per gallon than some of the larger lines.

Rowan proposed the businesses be grandfathered in, allowing them to choose the line they need to operate at.

“If you let these 19 users, that through no fault of their own have been forced into paying one inch rates…when their friends and neighbor businesses don’t have to pay that, it’s not a fair situation,” Rowan said. 

The town would not lose any money by doing this because the multiplier would be fixed – a fix that according to Rowan has been a long time coming. 

The next step would be to cut back on the 1,000 additional gallons that were provided to residents and businesses with the $2 increase. This would put everything on track and the town would bring in the money needed to pay off their loans for the water upgrade, without increasing anyone’s base rate. 

The last ordinance amendment allotted 1,000 more gallons with the previous $2 increase. 

Reeb said the proposal was more of a trade off than anything, something Rowan agreed with.

“It is a trade off but you want it to be a level playing field,” Rowan explained. 

Rowan explained he did not think it was fair to bill businesses more, especially since currently 95 percent of the businesses use less water than residential dwellings. 

“The way I feel myself and when I was talking to people about this, there seems to be a general consensus, they think if you use more (water), pay more,” Rowan explained.

Resident Mark Legard agreed with the proposal presented by Rowan.

“I don’t think businesses should have to pay more and I think it should go spread out throughout the town. I’ll pay more on my water bill as long as everyone else pays more on their water bill,” Legard said.

The hospital would be the hardest hit and would see approximately a $55 increase on their water bill.  

Mayor Greg Eitelberg plans to have the issue resolved within the next 45 days. He said that if a solution is not proposed, he has to start charging the 1.79 rate to businesses like indicated in the ordinance. 

He stressed that his job is to follow what’s on the books. 

Mayor Eitelberg said the committee would go through a series of discussions before holding another public  meeting, where hopefully a decision would be made. That decision would then need to be presented to council at their next meeting so council members could vote on the issue.