Wastewater (sewer) usage rates to increase, but not just yet
Tue, 07/30/2024 - 2:06pm
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By:
Laura Wagner, contributing writer
The user charge rate for the City of Mountain View was increased, but the increase won’t go into effect for some time. In a meeting held Monday, July 22 the Mountain View Board of Alderman voted to increase the user charge rate from $10.00 to $34.00. A necessary move to stay in compliance with the requirements handed down by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) according to Kent Peetz, Senior Project Manager with Horner and Shifrin.
The minimum usage gallons were also changed from 1,000 gallons to 3,000 gallons. When approved the citizens of Mountain View will pay $34.00 for the first 3,000 gallons used.
“Right now, the user charge has been increased, the minimum usage decreased, and that’s all that has been changed at this point,” explained Mayor Charry McCann. “The increase will not go into effect until it’s been approved by DNR. We cannot predict that date. It’s a very fluid situation, but it is something that we must go forward with for the health and welfare of the citizens and future generations of Mountain View.”
In addition to DNR approving the increase, the board of alderman must vote to pass an ordinance for the increase. Ordinances require two readings that are sometimes spread out to two meetings, sometimes done in one meeting.
Mayor McCann said that there is still a lot of work to be done regarding this project. The focus of the project is to remove the storm water that is getting into the wastewater. “There are broken pipes that have to be taken care of, repair and replacement of broken and leaking manholes. We need a larger sewer interceptor (a big pipe that collects water from around town and carries it to the treatment plant).”
Currently, the City of Mountain View has been approved for a loan from DNR with a very low interest rate of 1.57 percent. That loan from DNR requires money in place, a replacement fund to replace/repair needed equipment to sustain this upgrade for the next 20 years.
“This is something that should have been done three, four, five terms ago,” said Mayor McCann. “When the bond issue was passed in 2019, they set the rate to increase, but only at 50 cents a year (2021, 2022, 2023). If we would have made it $5.00, it would have been better. The 50-cent increase was not enough. Everyone needs to share in the infrastructure in this town.”
The city of Mountain View is scheduled to have all the preliminary requirements for the loan done by September to get the project out to bid. Mayor McCann stated that the citizens of Mountain View will receive plenty of notice before they see a change in their bills.