By Karen Hall

Editor

At a special call meeting Wednesday, city councilmen postponed a decision on raising water and sewer rates until they could gather more information.

The evening started with a work session, to give councilmen freedom to discuss agenda items before taking a vote.

At the request of Councilman Steve Thomas, City Manager Randall Dunn outlined the history of the Lewisburg Water and Sewer Board, which was created in 1973. According to amendments made in 1981 to the ordinance creating the board, the board "shall determine fees and charges," but whenever an adjustment in usage fees is voted by the board, the city council shall get 45 days' notice of the proposed adjustment, and must approve it before the adjustment can take effect.

What the Water and Sewer Board is proposing now is an increase in the base charges for water ($6) and sewer ($4). The current base charge, inside the city, is $10.59 for water and $15.47 for sewer.

"Is the base charge a usage fee?" asked Dunn. He said he didn't know, and would have to seek guidance from City Attorney Steve Broadway, who was not present, and also from the Municipal Technical Advisory Service.

The Water and Sewer Board's letter was received at City Hall on Aug. 15, so "the clock is ticking," said Mayor Jim Bingham.

When Bingham heard more time was needed to determine if a "base charge" was a"usage fee" that the council had to vote on, he said, "This kind of muddies the waters," but went on to say he still wanted the Water Board to make their presentation.

Selected to do this was local banker Bill Marsh, chairman of the Water and Sewer Board.

"I am green as a gourd on this board," Marsh said. "Jim (Bingham) appointed me. It's a voluntary job, but I have learned a lot in a short period of time."

Marsh said he was intrigued by the amount of debt the Water and Sewer Board had -- $19.4 million -- and looked into it carefully. He laid out for councilmen which projects money had been borrowed for, the largest being $11 million for the new stormwater storage tank which was mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"We've got to make these bond payments," Marsh said. "It will be 25 years before we retire the debt if we don't borrow another penny."

Marsh said the board would like to see cash reserves increase, and to do this, they need to either raise the rates or borrow more money.

What they're proposing, he said, is a fee increase, that will effect everyone, regardless of consumption.

Consumption is "way down," Marsh said, and this is part of the problem: people are using less water, and thus their bills are lower.

"We've got nothing else to sell," Marsh said. "Revenues are down, but the bond payments have got to be made."

State law requires utilities to be self-supporting, with revenues exceeding expenditures, Marsh pointed out. He also said Lewisburg's water is the cheapest in the area, compared to 12 neighboring systems. Even raising the fees as proposed will not make it nearly the most expensive.

"Anything you want to help you make a better decision, we'll get it for you," Marsh concluded.

He then endured extensive questioning from council members, particularly Councilman Robin Minor, who remained unconvinced that the purchase of the Cornersville water system was a good idea.

"Consumption has caused the deficit," Marsh said at the end of their exchange.

"And debt, and bad business practices," Minor said. "We've got a problem somewhere."

"It's a basic decision of government -- raise rates, borrow money, or cut services," said Thomas. "State law says we have to be in the black, or they will come down here and set the rates for us, and I'm sure none of us want that. We need to ask MTAS to come and help us. I'm not questioning your professionalism in any way," he said, pointing to Kenneth Carr and Pepper Biggers, who run the Water and Wastewater Department.

"Bill and I have dug through the books," said Councilman Trigg Cathey, who is also a member of the Water and Sewer Board. "We don't see any mismanagement."

"That's tough, the first time to get up in front of the council and be asked such hard questions," said Bingham, thanking Marsh for his time and patience.

"Let's close the discussion and have another session when we have more information," said Councilman Odie Whitehead Jr.

"The biggest question is what Randall (Dunn) brought up," agreed Bingham. "We need Steve (Broadway) and MTAS."

"I'm waiting on them to return my phone calls," said Dunn.

In the special call meeting following the work session, councilmen voted unanimously to hold another work session on the Water and Sewer Board's proposed fee increase, and tentatively scheduled it for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4.

Councilmen also unanimously approved an extension of the ICP Pilot agreement until Dec. 31, 2013, after hearing from Tony Beyer, Eddie Wiles, and Greg Lowe.