Minutes 12/14/1982 - Laserfiche WebLink

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TUESDAY DECEMBER 14, 1982 To implement the recommendations of Mattern & Craig, Consulting Engineers, in its recently- presented Water Rate Study, City Manager Edmonds presented an ordinance which would revise the City's current water rates by amending Appendix A to the Terms and Conditions of the City's Water and Sewer Services, with the effective date thereof to be determined by Council. In addition, City Manager Edmonds presented information portraying the adverse impact upon the financial condition of the City's Water Utility Fund various effective dates would cause, with such adverse impact increasing as the various f'ffective dates are postponed, aside from the more adv~rse impact a reduction in the proposed rates would pro- duce. To lessen the impact upon local consumers, however, City Manager Edmonds recommended that the effective date be delayed until April 1, 1983 (instead of January 1, 1983, as recommended by the consulting engineers) and (that) the second step of the rate increase, set for July 1, 1984, he held in abeyance, pending further consideration. Citizens and industry representatives present and speaking to this matter were: 1. Mr. Mark Edward Price, representing New Bethel Holiness Church, 929 Bethel Lane, who asserted that the City's water rates are and would be unfairly apportioned (i.e., in favor of industrial users and to the disadvantage of residential users), that industry should bear the cost burden of the Leatherwood Creek raw water supply development because industries would be the chief bene- ficiaries thereof, and (that) the City's water utility operating expenses have consistently included pay increases for its personnel far above the accepted norm. Mr. Price also indicated that the Bethel Lane area is without adequate water pressure; 2. The Reverend Robert Leonard Hairston, Pastor of New Bethel Holiness Church, who claimed that the problem of inadequate water pressure in the Bethel Lane area has been in existence for many years, that the City has known about this problem for many years but has done nothing about it (such as installing a pump similar to that already installed to provide adequate water pressure for the Chatham Heights area), and (that) this area's water customers are not getting the water service for which they are being charged; 3. Messrs. Edward L. Belcher (Comptroller) and Bill Burnett, on behalf of Memorial Hospital of Martinsville & Henry County, who expressed concern with the impact the proposed water rate increases, including the demand charges and the fire service connection charges, would have upon the hospital's operating expenses;