Columbus Light & Water customers are about to start paying more for water.
The CL&W Board of Directors voted in favor of a 5 percent rate increase during their meeting Thursday. General Manager Todd Gale, referencing data compiled by Chief Financial Officer Mike Bernsen, told board members that the average water bill between residential and business customers was about $41 a month. A 5 percent increase will add $2 to that amount.
The vote was 3-1 with board members Brandy Gardner, Jimmy Graham and Charlie Newell in favor. Micheal Tate voted against the increase.
Board President Andrew Colom, who normally doesn’t vote unless he has to break a tie, asked Board Attorney Jeff Smith to mark him down as a ‘Yea’ vote.
Colom cited CL&W’s long-term capital improvements plan as the main reason for suggesting the increase.
“We kind of want to get up some so we feel more comfortable,” Colom said. “That’s partly why we want to do a 5 percent increase, especially with some of the long-term plans we have on the water side. We’ve got a lot of things we want to do to help our customers, and there’s a lot of things we want to do to improve the utility as a whole. This 5 percent increase is just a necessary step in my opinion.”
For the 2015 fiscal year that started Oct. 1 and ends on the last day of September next year, the city utility provider has $1,212,000 set aside for capital improvements, most of which would pay for maintenance of the north and south water treatment plants, water main upgrades in East Columbus and sewer system rehabilitation projects in Southside.
The board passed a budget last month that projected $10,110,000 in revenue and $9,183,000 in expenses for general services, which is a net income of $927,000. That does not take into account the capital improvements plan.
The increase does not affect the $13 residential minimum bill. Rather, the unit price of water is affected, meaning the allotment of water provided by the minimum fee will decrease before customers are charged for extra usage. Last month, Gale said a minimum bill gets a customer four units, or 2,992 gallons, of water. If a minimum bill were only to cover 3.5 units, the new minimum bill covers 2,618 gallons.
Gale said it could be until December before the new rates take effect.
The last water rate increase was in January 2013.
Colom said ideally, an increase would not be necessary, but it is a small price to pay for keeping CL&W on schedule to make overdue improvements to the city’s water infrastructure.
“I hate to raise rates because I know the economy is still sluggish,” he said, “but that 5 percent is really the best we can get away with, and we’re still going to have to defer some maintenance.”
Electric rates are staying the same.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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