City plans town hall meeting to address sewer rates
Lead Summary
By
Brandy Chandler-brandychandler@gmail.com
The city of Hillsboro has scheduled a town hall meeting to discuss the pending sewer rate increase, in hopes of increasing transparency in their decision-making, and to answer and address any concerns of Hillsboro residents.
The Hillsboro City Council is currently considering the legislation that would increase the sewer rates by 15 percent over three years, with a 5-percent increase in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Council heard the second reading of the ordinance during their regular meeting Monday, and will vote on the matter on Sept. 12, when it has the third and final reading.
Council member Dave Shoemaker, who is chairperson of the utilities committee, said he understands that times are tough and no one wants a higher rate. However, he feels that if citizens hear why the increase is needed and where the funds were going, they will be able to accept it.
"I think that maybe we haven't done as good of a job as laying everything out and explaining everything," Shoemaker told The Highland County Press.
During Monday's council meeting, Hillsboro resident Christine Kerley addressed council after having done significant research into the rate increases, area household incomes, and comparable rates in other cities.
"My concern is this: Water at $42.83 a month is going to become a burden to the citizens of our community, if we consider the growth," Kerley said to council. "The next thing was a sewer increase. You're proposing a 5-percent increase. I would like to know what that increase is going to include. What is it covering for our city? Where is that money going to go? What is it earmarked for?"
While council addressed some of her questions, such as justifying that the increase was mostly needed to help fund the EPA-mandated wastewater treatment plant upgrades that is costing $17 million, several questions were left unanswered.
Shoemaker said that he was very glad that Kerley came forward, and he always encourages people to come to council with questions, or to seek him out privately.
"I think some people thought we cut her a little short by saying 'call the mayor's office.' That was not meant to cut her short, especially on my part. I thought she should talk to (administrative assistant Kirby Ellison) who obtained a great deal of the grants and got the cost down to where it was feasible to have the plant," Shoemaker said. "That is why we encouraged her. Maybe I should have spoken up more, because I am pretty well-versed and have been there since the beginning of (the upgrade and rate increase) discussions. But, those are figures I don't look at every day, and I didn't want to start rattling off stuff and then later find out I told her something wrong."
The reason that the ordinance is having three readings, Shoemaker said, is for exactly the purpose of giving citizens time to come forward and voice their opinions and ask questions.
"We had the funds (to give it three readings) and I found no reason to make it an emergency to push it through," Shoemaker said. "I wanted it to be in three readings to do exactly what we're doing now, to allow the public to come forward, because in some cases they can get left out of the process."
The town hall meeting will be held Tuesday, Aug. 23 at 6:30 in the basement meeting room of the Highland County Administration Building.
"We invite everybody out there who has an interest in the city and the water and sewer rates to come out," Shoemaker said. "The plan is to go step by step, answer Ms. Kerley's questions about where the money is going, how we got to where we are, starting at the very beginning. I think we're guilty of failing to put that documentation out there in such a way that it would be understood. I have thought a great deal about this over the last few weeks, and we're just not getting the job done. We need to put it out there in whatever way we can. We've answered questions, but I don't think we've ever told them the whole process."
Shoemaker said that he had previously thought that the public would accept the increase, because council voted in 2008 to freeze the increases until they saw what sort of funds they would have available. If the increase is enacted, base rates for sewer will be $25.42. If council had not frozen the increases in 2008, today the base rate would be $43.30."
"I had thought people would just be glad to be paying only that much, compared to what we could be paying," Shoemaker said. "I know times are tough. I've got friends who are looking for work, and each of us in the city has to pay these bills."
Additionally, in her research on the rates, Kerley told council that she discovered that the city had not made mandatory reports to the Ohio EPA in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009. She had asked why the reporting had not been done, and council did not offer an answer.
Shoemaker said that the matter will be looked into, and if it is true that the reports have not been made, then the city will correct the issue.
"Of course we're gong to improve if there is a problem, if in fact we find that there is something that is lacking," Shoemaker said. "Of course we are going to fix it. We would be foolish not to."
The city of Hillsboro has scheduled a town hall meeting to discuss the pending sewer rate increase, in hopes of increasing transparency in their decision-making, and to answer and address any concerns of Hillsboro residents.
The Hillsboro City Council is currently considering the legislation that would increase the sewer rates by 15 percent over three years, with a 5-percent increase in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Council heard the second reading of the ordinance during their regular meeting Monday, and will vote on the matter on Sept. 12, when it has the third and final reading.
Council member Dave Shoemaker, who is chairperson of the utilities committee, said he understands that times are tough and no one wants a higher rate. However, he feels that if citizens hear why the increase is needed and where the funds were going, they will be able to accept it.
"I think that maybe we haven't done as good of a job as laying everything out and explaining everything," Shoemaker told The Highland County Press.
During Monday's council meeting, Hillsboro resident Christine Kerley addressed council after having done significant research into the rate increases, area household incomes, and comparable rates in other cities.
"My concern is this: Water at $42.83 a month is going to become a burden to the citizens of our community, if we consider the growth," Kerley said to council. "The next thing was a sewer increase. You're proposing a 5-percent increase. I would like to know what that increase is going to include. What is it covering for our city? Where is that money going to go? What is it earmarked for?"
While council addressed some of her questions, such as justifying that the increase was mostly needed to help fund the EPA-mandated wastewater treatment plant upgrades that is costing $17 million, several questions were left unanswered.
Shoemaker said that he was very glad that Kerley came forward, and he always encourages people to come to council with questions, or to seek him out privately.
"I think some people thought we cut her a little short by saying 'call the mayor's office.' That was not meant to cut her short, especially on my part. I thought she should talk to (administrative assistant Kirby Ellison) who obtained a great deal of the grants and got the cost down to where it was feasible to have the plant," Shoemaker said. "That is why we encouraged her. Maybe I should have spoken up more, because I am pretty well-versed and have been there since the beginning of (the upgrade and rate increase) discussions. But, those are figures I don't look at every day, and I didn't want to start rattling off stuff and then later find out I told her something wrong."
The reason that the ordinance is having three readings, Shoemaker said, is for exactly the purpose of giving citizens time to come forward and voice their opinions and ask questions.
"We had the funds (to give it three readings) and I found no reason to make it an emergency to push it through," Shoemaker said. "I wanted it to be in three readings to do exactly what we're doing now, to allow the public to come forward, because in some cases they can get left out of the process."
The town hall meeting will be held Tuesday, Aug. 23 at 6:30 in the basement meeting room of the Highland County Administration Building.
"We invite everybody out there who has an interest in the city and the water and sewer rates to come out," Shoemaker said. "The plan is to go step by step, answer Ms. Kerley's questions about where the money is going, how we got to where we are, starting at the very beginning. I think we're guilty of failing to put that documentation out there in such a way that it would be understood. I have thought a great deal about this over the last few weeks, and we're just not getting the job done. We need to put it out there in whatever way we can. We've answered questions, but I don't think we've ever told them the whole process."
Shoemaker said that he had previously thought that the public would accept the increase, because council voted in 2008 to freeze the increases until they saw what sort of funds they would have available. If the increase is enacted, base rates for sewer will be $25.42. If council had not frozen the increases in 2008, today the base rate would be $43.30."
"I had thought people would just be glad to be paying only that much, compared to what we could be paying," Shoemaker said. "I know times are tough. I've got friends who are looking for work, and each of us in the city has to pay these bills."
Additionally, in her research on the rates, Kerley told council that she discovered that the city had not made mandatory reports to the Ohio EPA in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009. She had asked why the reporting had not been done, and council did not offer an answer.
Shoemaker said that the matter will be looked into, and if it is true that the reports have not been made, then the city will correct the issue.
"Of course we're going to improve it if there is a problem; if, in fact, we find that there is something that is lacking," Shoemaker said. "Of course we are going to fix it. We would be foolish not to."