Water rates in Rutland on the rise again! Some members of the Board of Alderman voted, once again, to raise rates by double digits.
Brent Curtis, Rutland Herald -
After a push for deeper cuts failed Monday, the Rutland aldermen narrowly passed a combined water and sewer rate increase of 10.54 percent.
It was a long night of work for the board, which was torn over how to cover more than $600,000 worth of expenses that its members approved in June.
But the spending passed three months ago seemed less sound to some board members after a rate study called for an almost 15 percent increase to cover the additional spending for the two utilities.
The bulk of the proposed increase was in the water rate, which called for more than a 28 percent increase to cover expenses.
But after a motion that would have cut more than $200,000 and two positions from the Department of Public Works failed by a 4-5 vote, a majority of the aldermen agreed to a rate plan that covered all of the departments' spending while trimming necessary rate increases by more than 4 percent.
The final plan, which passed by a 6-3 vote, increases water rates by 24 percent and sewer rates by 2.53 percent for a combined rate increase of 10.54 percent. The aldermen who voted “no” on the water rate increase were David Dress, Sean Sargeant and Thomas DePoy.
No figures were provided to the aldermen about what the new rates would be set at or what the increases would equate to for average two-person and four-person homes.
The board managed to set the water rate lower than the anticipated rate and still cover all the costs by using a little more than $200,000 in water and sewer contingency funds that function as a cushion in the event projected water and sewer revenues come in lower than expected.
The board's action removed the cushion. But Alderwoman Sharon Davis, who made the motion to use the contingency funds, said the board owed it to DPW employees who learned only last week that they faced possible layoffs and to city ratepayers who expected well-run city utilities to make sure that the budget passed in June wasn't scrapped in September.
“Maybe we put the cart before the horse but it's done, that's what we voted on,” she said. “We keep saying what we want to do is the responsible thing. We need to decide whether we try to appease the ratepayers or service them.”
The aldermen entered their regular meeting Monday with a much more radical plan on the table — a plan that called for only a 5 percent combined rate increase.
Mayor Christopher Louras told the board that a 5 percent increase would leave $559,000 worth of budgeted spending uncovered and force the cutting of numerous projects, services such as the addition of fluoride, and would require the layoff of eight employees in DPW and other city departments that serve them.
Most of the DPW workers were in the aldermen's chamber on Monday, along with about a half dozen dentists who came to protest the possible cut of fluoride from the water supply.
