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| Galesburg Water Rates May Rise in 2010 |
Galesburg's City Manager says after years of what were, in his words, artificially low water rates in the city, efforts should continue in 2010 to raise those rates and make them more equal.
Dane Bragg presented a series of three proposals to the City Council during a work session Monday night. They would raise water rates as much as 20-percent for residential users, and possibly 18-percent for commercial users, in order to keep up with expenses, including the debt service on the city's $18 million water plant construction at Oquawka.
Bragg says another problem is being presented with the city's revenue right now: not as much water is being used right now. "Because we've had very cool weather, we've seen (water) consumption drop considerably, just because people aren't watering their lawns as much, and filling their pools as much as they normally would be," Bragg said. "So we may have to deal with these rate increases for a little bit longer period than we thought we would, because we're not seeing the consumption growth that we were a couple years ago."
But Bragg says the city can't save money by simply stopping work on the projects, so something has to be done.
Bragg recommends a sort-of split of increases...raising the average quarterly water bill for residents by 17-percent, and for commercial users by 16-percent, along with an increase in facilities fees that help pay for system repairs.
No action was taken Monday night, and it's not clear when action would be taken. |
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| 07 20 09 by Newsroom |
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