Riverside eyes transportation in 2011

    The past year was a busy year for the city of Riverside. The Riverside

City Council spent many meetings debating its nuisance abatement process. In July, the council held a nuisance hearing for property owned by councilor Ralph Schnoebelen, at 450 E. Fourth St. After several more months of debate, the council passed a motion to have the nuisances abated through the judicial system rather than by city employees.

    City Administrator Tina Thomas said the city will still take an interest in abating nuisances by holding public hearings for those not in compliance.

    ?Civil infraction will be used as a last step,? she said.

    Another major change the city enacted was to raise its sewer rates. The sewer rates have not been raised in 15 years.

    Under the old rates, residents were charged $9 for the first 3,000 gallons and $3 for every 1,000 gallons after that. The new sewer rates are $9 for the first 1,000 gallons and then $3 for every 1,000 gallons after that. However, residents will be charged $5 for every 1,000 gallons they use over 50,000 gallons. The new sewer rates are now the same as the water rates.

    ?We need the water and the sewer funds to be self-sufficient,? explained Thomas.

For more, see our Dec. 30 print edition.