Rates to rise for water and sewer in Gentry

GENTRY — City water and sewer rates will rise by 3 percent again in November if a proposed ordinance is approved by the council at its next two meetings.

Council members unanimously approved, on its first reading Monday, an ordinance readjusting water and sewer rates to help cover costs of repairs and future replacement of system components.The rate increase is part of a plan to adjust rates modestly upward each year to cover the increased costs of water and to build up a reserve which can be used to replace and repair portions of the system as the need arises.

Minimum water rates in the city - up to 1,000 gallons per month with a 5/8 to 3/4 inch meter - will go up to $11.26 per month. Outside the city, it will be $27.01.

Minimum sewer rates will be $6.42 per month within the city and $10.63 outside the city.

In the past, the city had gone almost 10 years without a rate increase and then was forced to make a large increase to keep from operating at a loss to the city and to provide for system repairs and improvements. Rather than repeating that, the city in cooperation with large water users, adopted a plan of small annual increases rather than waiting until necessity forced a large increase on customers without opportunity to plan and budget for it.

“I support the rate increase,” said alderman James Furgason, “but grudgingly, because of the hard economic times. I sympathize with the water customers,” he said.

In related business, the council also appointed the city water superintendent to a two-year term on the Benton-Washington Public Water Authority board. The mayor was appointed to Position 2 for the city. The term ends in August of 2013.

The council approved a one-acre land donation from American Electric Power-Southwestern Electric Power Company on the northwest corner of Taylor Orchard and Marion Lee Roads as a future site of a fire department substation.

A resolution was also passed to express the willingness of the city to use federal-aid enhancement funds, requiring a 20 percent city match, for the building of sidewalks on South Collins Avenue.

The city had applied for $100,000 but only received $45,000 for the project which will be completed in stages, beginning at Main Street, as money for the work becomes available. Eventually, the goal is to connect sidewalks from Main Street, south along Collins, to Gentry Blvd. (Arkansas Highway 59).