Clarksville, TN – Here are several items for your info. Please note in Ordinance 78 (Gas & Water Committee) that Gas & Water and the mayor are asking to raise sewer rates.
The Gas & Water Committee, chaired by Councilman Burkhart, did not or would not recommend approval or disapproval. The rate increase is being looked at to offset the cost of rebuilding the Sewer Plant.
The Federal government is being slow and may renege on potential offers of grant money to rebuild the plant that was damaged during the 2010 flood. Costs to rebuild/repair will be around $100 million.
In order to get repair bonds and loans, Gas & Water must maintain a proper ratio of debt to revenue and we are slipping below that level due to current ongoing repair efforts.
A little history is in order here about Gas & Water rates. When I and others took office in 2007, it was evident that Gas and Water had a number of issues. The vehicle fleet was too large, the staff numbers were inflated, money was being spent on items and equipment (such as workout equipment for a in-house gym and jewelry) that should not have been, and it appeared based on some work reports and complaints by a former city councilman that “favors” were being done for some citizens.
Then, when I became the Gas and Water committee chairman in 2009, I began asking questions about how rate charges were being determined and the rationale used. I also suspected, based on data analysis that I and another council member conducted, that city rate payers may be subsidizing county users of Gas and Water services.
There is no data or rationale available to support why Gas and Water charges double the rates to residential users outside the city limits and if that is the proper amount. That lack of rationale also applies to sewer rates.
There appears to be no rationale as to why Gas and Water doesn’t adjust sewer rates for water usage in the summer months (state law allows but does not mandate this) and we don’t have data to show the impact or adjustments on rates if we did. That is the mess that the current Gas and Water Director and council members of that time had to deal with and have been trying to do something about since then.
As you will recall recently, there have been realignments and reductions of staff, the vehicle fleet was reduced, rules that applied across the board were implemented and upgrades in customer interaction and rate schedules were undertaken. All were needed actions with more work to come.
By February 2011 we still had not heard a start date from MTAS. MTAS did a presentation at Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan’s council get-together at Montgomery Bell State Park in February 2011 (it was on information other than rates). I briefed the mayor (at the conference) on the history of rate problems and other issues and ask her to mention the study and a scheduled start time to MTAS since they had attended the conference. She said she would.
More months go by, I keep checking with Gas and Water, and we hear nothing and around July 2011 the mayor kicks out the sitting Gas and Water committee along with a shakeup of all other committees. No longer running the committee, I would ask the Gas and Water director, now and then, if he had heard from MTAS. The answer was no every time.
Last week at the executive session, Gas and Water and the mayor brought the issue of a sewer rate hike before the council. I asked the mayor had she ever heard back from MTAS on the study request. She replied no. I went over the basics for the whole council of why we needed the study.
The mayor then replied that she had not received such a study request from Gas and Water, as if this would explain why she didn’t follow-up on the MTAS request. I stated that I came to her as her Gas and Water chairman and with the concurrence of the committee and Gas and Water director requesting her help on a study request that Gas and Water had submitted to MTAS.
The money to rebuild and repair the sewer plant is needed. However, I will not support any Gas and Water rate hike until we know what the rationale and data will support and how alternative operational approaches would impact fees and consumers. The question was asked what would happen if we collected a rate hike and the Federal government then provided money to fix the plant. The answer was we would have to revisit that when it happened.
I do not agree with that action/answer. I do propose that a separate monthly flat fee be charged for each Gas and Water user that would pay for the loans and interest to be paid until federal money could be provided. Then Gas and Water could rebate an amount equal to or in ratio to what the feds might provide to fix the plant. The Gas and Water billing system can do this.
I’ll keep you posted
Editor’s Note: This article contains the view points of Councilman Bill Summers and may not represent the views of the rest of the City Council, the City of Clarksville or ClarksvilleOnline.
