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Holland breaks sewer vote tie |
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Tuesday, 12 May 2009 |
It took a tie-breaking vote from the mayor, but the Benton City Council now has approved the second reading of an ordinance raising sewer service rates for Benton Utilities customers.
Mayor Rick Holland exercised his right by state law to vote affirmatively when there is a tied motion. The law prohibits him from casting a negative vote to break a tie.
Voting for the ordinance were Aldermen Charles Cunningham, Bill Donnor, Jerry Ponder, David Sparks and Doug Stracener. Voting “no” were Aldermen Larry Wolf, Greg White, Brad Moore and Steve Lee. An additional negative vote was recorded for Alderman Joe Lee Richards, who was absent because of serious illness.
Before the vote was taken, a former mayor, Lynn Moore, expressed concerns about the sewer increase.
He pointed out some typographical errors in the ordinance, which he said he had understood had been corrected.
Moore said one of his chief concerns about the ordinance is that it specifies that an automatic 2 percent rate increase will occur in the next six years.
“There should be justification for any rate increase,” Moore said.
He contends that the ordinance is not giving residential customers “a fair shake.”
An “automatic rollover” is something that “this city has never done before,” Moore said.
Terry McKinney, general manager of Benton Utilities, who has recommended the rate increase, attempted to clarify some of the language of the ordinance.
According to McKinney, the annual 2 percent hike that will be imposed on customers would cost an average family only “about 18 cents per month a year.”
The Public Utilities Commission has recommended the hike in sewer charges.
The original sewer ordinance was revised after issues were raised concerning charges for industrial customers that use water not returned to the sewer for treatment.
The ordinance that has been approved on its two readings reaffirms a long-standing practice of the city’s wastewater utility department to not consider, in computing user charges, water that is not returned to the sewer for treatment as substantiated by the utilities manager.
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