After extensive discussion at its Jan. 9 meeting regarding how to restructure water and sewer fees for the city, 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 increased from a base rate of $34.49 to $50.
The city also switched from a tiered sewer fee to 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.
Also passed was a resolution to include the word for debit cards to be assessed a processing fee on payments to the city. A credit card processing fee is already charged on all credit and debit cards on payments made to the city; however, the fee did change depending on whether a credit or debit card was used. The resolution now assigned a flat 3% fee on debit and credit card transactions from payments to the city.
The changes come after Oak Ridge North experienced a $68,000 deficit in their budget last fiscal year for the first time in recent history. The deficit was attributed to the difference in sewer and water rates compared to the actual expenses to the city.
