Council to target shared water meters

The Washington City Council tabled the ordinance that would raise sewer and water rates. The ordinance passed its first reading in May but was stuck in neutral for Wednesday?s council meeting.

Councilor Bob Shepherd said the city has a problem with base fees for sewer and water usage that has not yet been addressed. The problem is that residents are charged one base fee per water meter. However, some residents share a water meter. For instance, some apartment complexes have a single water meter even though multiple families live in the building.

Shepherd said this is unfair because people in these apartments are treated differently from people who live in single-family homes. Mayor Sandra Johnson said the current city code calls for a base fee to be assessed for each water meter. Shepherd said that is unacceptable.

Johnson asked, ?How would we gain that knowledge as to how many households are served off of one meter??

?We?d better find something,? said Shepherd. ?If you?ve got a unit with four [households], we know there are four. We know how many apartments are in a building. The phone company or somebody has those things. We have places where the landlord has four apartments and only pays one base rate. I want to address that.?

Shepherd said some landlords have separate meters but others still use only one meter and divide the cost among the tenants. Councilor Karen Wilson-Johnson said she believed the majority of apartments had only one meter.

Councilor Merlin Hagie said, ?I would suspect the old ones share a meter and the new ones would be metered separately.?

Councilor Mike Roth asked if anyone knew how many shared meters there are in town. Mayor Johnson said she is aware that some of the city?s water bills contain multiple households.

Hagie said he would research how many residences have shared meters and would discuss the matter at the next sanitation committee meeting.

Shepherd remarked, ?We?ve got time to do it right, and we need to do it right.?

Under the proposed ordinance, everyone?s base sewer fee would at least double. Residences and businesses pay a base fee of $17.50 now while multi-family dwellings pay $12. The ordinance calls for residential and multi-family base fees to be $35.

The base fee would be $35 for businesses that use up to 1,400 cubic feet of water. Businesses that use between 1,400 and 15,000 cubic feet would pay a base charge of $70. The next tier, from 15,000 to 100,000, would pay $140 as a base rate and any business using more than 100,000 cubic feet would pay $280.

The variable sewer rate, based on consumption, would rise 176 percent from $1.27 per 100 cubic feet of water used to $3.50.

Water rates will also increase but not by as much. Water rates would rise 10 percent from $1.87 to $2.06 on those who use between 0 and 1,400 cubic feet of water. The rate would rise 15 percent, from $1.76 to $2.02 for those consuming between 1,400 and 15,000, and 20 percent, from $1.52 to $1.82, for those consuming between 15,000 and 100,000. Those who consume more than 100,000 cubic feet of water would see an increase of 25 percent, from $1.20 to $1.50. The water service charge would increase from $9.50 to $12.

The ordinance calls for an increase to the garbage and recycling fee, which would go from $2.35 to $4.35. This fee applies only to residential customers.

All told, the effect of these increases is that residential customers will pay at least $20 more and many will pay $30 or $40 more in utilities per month. A residential customer who now uses 100 cubic feet of water per month pays about $33. Under the new plan, the customer would pay $56. Someone who uses 400 cubic feet pays $43, and that would jump to $73 under the proposal. A resident who uses 700 cubic feet would see their bill go from $53 to $90. Those who consume 1,000 cubic feet would pay $44 more in utilities, from $63 to $107.

During citizens? time, Washington resident Samantha Van Houten shared her opinion on the council?s proposed sewer and water rates.

?I have a really bad feeling you?re going to lose a lot of citizens if the prices of everything keep going up in this town, like the water bill,? she said.

Van Houten also commented that the city should move the ?Historic Downtown? sign near the intersection of Second Avenue and East Washington.

?It can cause accidents because you can?t see around it from the theater,? she said.

Mayor Johnson responded that the city asked the Iowa Department of Transportation to look at the sign and the department ?gave its blessing.?