Town council hears objections to water rate increase

Tuesday’s Thermopolis Town Council meeting was started with approving the agenda and then opening the floor for citizen participation.

It was after the second reading of the water rate increase ordinance that the meeting became an arena of discussion.

The Town Attorney Mike Messenger read the Water Rate Increase Ordinance for the second time. After the narration of the ordinance council member Tony Larson made a motion to approve the second reading of the ordinance, council member Dusty Lewis seconded the motion. Mayor Mike Mortimore then opened the floor for discussion. Mortimore recognized two representatives from other water districts, Neil Miller representing the South Thermopolis Water and Sewer District and Bart Bader for the Owl Creek Water District.

Miller started the discussion by asking point blank “is there an emergency in your budget?” Explaining he was trying to understand the new ordinance, and whether there is a budgetary emergency on the water budget.

Mortimore said even after raising the base rates $5 in the last fiscal year the town still lost $168,000 and the town has to raise the rates. Miller wanted to know why 40%, why not a more palatable number?

Miller asked the council how they think this rate is increase fair. He stated there is no real tier rate because it doesn’t actually start until the user reaches over 800,000 gallons. He asked the council, “wouldn’t that eliminate 95% of your population?” Miller estimated it would leave maybe one user that would use that much water. Assistant to the Mayor Fred Crosby explained there are several users who actually reach two million gallons of usage.

Mortimore said they are just charging everybody the same. “The people of Thermopolis have supplemented your rates,” Mortimore explained to Miller. “We have been paying 125% for years, so you are completely wrong,” Miller retorted. Mortimore stated the southern water district has never paid for the water plant, not like the residents inside the city limits do. Miller argued they do.

Miller asked if the town wanted to go to EDUs (equivalent dwelling units), setting a set number of water usage per resident. Councilman Tony Larson responded the town is not going to EDUs. Mortimore said residents are not going to like paying $9 per thousand gallons, because that is what the average is.

The discussion continued as the council tried to explain the water plant has been under pressure to provide water to the town, and some of the super users tax the system to the point of just keeping up. Miller pointed out they are just the opposite and they have to try and prevent users from becoming super users to keep from taxing the water plant.

Mayor Mortimore continued explaining that the current ordinance is a compromise of several attempts to put together a new ordinance and that it was on the low end.

The town water plant is not “breaking even” as earlier reported. The town suffered a loss of over $160,000 in the last fiscal year. The loss was not caused by any one reason, but various reasons throughout the year. This loss cannot be recouped.

Miller explained South Thermopolis Water and Sewer District’s current base is about $41 and now they will receive an $18 increase on top of the $41. “Are we paying for maintenance, are we paying for a new water plant, what are we paying for with that $18? That is the big sixty four million dollar question,” said Miller. Mortimore responded the water plant is the majority of the cost.

Miller said he is worried the town is putting excessive burden on the out of town users with the $18 assessment. “I would like to think of us as outside users, we are a different color of cat.” said Miller. He asked the council to reconsider the position towards the out of town users. Miller continued by suggesting the council ease into the rate over a two to three year period, not within the next sixty days.

“At some point there will be a hardship getting on the right track,” Mortimore said. The plan is to treat everybody the same with the new ordinance.

Bart Bader from the Owl Creek District had one main concern. He asked if this will be enough of an increase to stay off raising the rate again in the future, thus allowing the Owl Creek District a chance to get their feet under them. “We have had rate increases three times already and we have been in business only a year,” Bader explained

Mortimore expressed a hope this rate increase should hold for a while, at least 2 years, but brought up there is always unforeseen expenses running the water plant. The next big project is to get the heavy load off the plant. They will be working on getting raw water to many of the super users. Taking the load off could extend plant life considerably. The Mayor did say he sees the burden the water districts are going through with this new ordinance.

There was some discussion about easing into the increase for the water districts. Bader said he thinks it would be better to get the sting over with so the district can deal with it and get their feet back under them. The Owl Creek district currently pays $120 a month per user for their water.

After much discussion, the motion was passed for approving the second reading of the new water rate ordinance.

The council finished up the evening by passing a motion to opt out of the Joint Powers Board, leaving the remaining members of the Joint Powers Board in control of the board. The motion was modified to pay $5,000 to the Recreation District and opt out of the board.