Jeffrey Bishop, client manager for Quiddity Engineering, came before the council at its Jan. 9 meeting to review the schedule of fees for the city and recommended across the board increases for water and sewer usage.
According to City Manager Heather Neeley, the city saw a $68,000 deficit in revenues compared to expenditures for the first time in the last fiscal year budget cycle due to water and sewer fees.
The last full water and sewer fee study was conducted in 2015, and while the average usage and number of connections in the city has seen little change, inflation has resulted in the need to raise the rates, according to information at the meeting.
“I think the city is neither higher nor lower on a large swing from other utility rates,” said Bishop. “That being said, your rates are from 2015 and inflation from 2015 to 2022 is over 25%.”
Quiddity recommended a series of increases on the residential and commercial side which included raising the monthly residential base rate from $13.46 to $17.
“We haven’t changed these rates since 2015, shame on us, but I would like to find a way to not impact on the residents” Mayor Paul Bond said.
After extensive discussion, the council agreed to move forward by increasing the base residential rate for water to $15 for up to 3,000 gallons of usage and increasing the tiered rate by $1.01 per 1,000 gallons. Commercial water usage was recommended to go from a base rate of $34.49 to $50.
As opposed to doing a tiered sewer usage fee schedule, Council Member Rick Moffatt recommended the city implement a flat fee based on median usage. The council agreed to move forward with a flat fee of $30 for customers using zero to 7,000 gallons of sewer, and $45 for anything over that.
“This really needs to be evaluated annually, I understand the circumstances that got us here, but we need to do this every year,” said Mayor Paul Bond.
Neeley explained the agreed-upon fee schedule would be brought up as a resolution to be voted on at the next City Council meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for Jan., 23 at 7 p.m. at Oak Ridge North City Hall on 27424 Robinson Road, Oak Ridge North.
