(Spirit Lake)– “The water doesn’t stink anymore, but this sure does”. That’s how Spirit Lake city councilman Jerry Harbst summed up significant increases in water and sewer rates that would be spread out over the next several years. City officials say the increases are needed to bring the funds back into the black and to pay for recent improvements to the water treatment plant and for a new water tower being proposed for the city. The council was supposed to act on the new rates at their meeting Tuesday but wound up tabling the matter.
Under the new schedule, rates would about double over the next three years. A family of four using five thousand gallons of water a month would see their bill jump from about 21 dollars a month to 32 dollars; 39 dollars next year and 42 dollars in 2007.
Harbst was very upset over the proposed increases, saying first they inherited the drainage district fiasco from the previous council, then property tax increases; now the need to increase water and sewer rates. Harbst describes it as a “Management problem, plain and simple”. He says city officials should have seen the need for the increases already years ago and should have started raising rates back then. Councilman Kevin Bice agreed, saying there are some “flaws in the system that need to be taken care of”.
After learning from Public Works Director Todd Dolphin of some possible options to lessen the proposed rate increases, the council voted to table the issue until 12 Noon Thursday. Dolphin wouldn’t elaborate on the options, saying he’ll meet in the next day or so with the city’s Utility Committee on the matter.
In other business, the Spirit Lake city council Tuesday awarded a bid on the pedestrian underpass project on the city’s east side near the Highway Nine and 71 boat ramp. The Dickinson County Trails Association will contribute five thousand dollars a year to the project over five years for a total of 25-thousand dollars. The low bid of 493,855-dollars was awarded to Graves Construction. It came in slightly BELOW the engineer’s estimate of 528,392-dollars. The council took the action following a public hearing that drew comments only in favor of the project.
