Higher Sewer Bills Coming

City Council Passes Rate Increases Of 25 Percent Over Two Years

— Bentonville residents will see their sewer bills jump by 25 percent in the next two years after the City Council voted 5-3 to raise wastewater rates at Tuesday’s meeting.

The increase was recommended by HDR Engineering after it conducted a study of the city’s water and wastewater utilities. The engineers suggested water rates stay the same and proposed wastewater rates go up 15 percent in March and an additional 10 percent in January 2014.

At A Glance

Bill Increases

Bentonville residents will start seeing their wastewater bills increase in March. The initial 15 percent increase will change their facility charge from $10.60 to $12.19. Consumption costs will rise from $6.08 per 1,000 gallons to $6.99 per 1,000 gallons.

A 10 percent increase will follow in January 2014. That increase will raise facility charges to $13.41 and consumption costs to $7.69 per 1,000 gallons. The average household uses about 4,500 gallons a month, according to HDR Engineering.

Source: Staff Report

Council members Jim Dotson, Ryan Parks and Bill Burckart voted against the increases. Shane Perry, Chris Sooter, Jim Grider, Mary Baggett and Ed Austin voted for the measure.

HDR said the rate hikes are needed to cover higher than expected costs associated with the Northwest Arkansas Conservation Authority and offset losses from the closure of the Kraft Foods plant. The Kraft plant is scheduled to close next year, costing about $600,000 in sewer rate revenue for the utility.

The authority is a 10-member regional wastewater treatment plant currently used by Bentonville and Tontitown. The city’s annual payment to the authority for conveyance and treatment is projected to be about $5.8 million next year and increase to $6.4 million in 2017, according to study figures.

With those numbers, HDR forecasts a shortfall of $1.8 million in 2013 ranging up to a $4.3 million shortfall in 2017.

The city is also facing environmental mandates on its phosphorus levels, including a daily load study on Town Branch Creek. The outcome of talks with environmental agencies could result in millions of dollars in retrofitting to the Northeast A Street treatment plant.

Burckart objected the rate increases would make Bentonville’s wastewater prices 83 percent higher than the second highest city in the region. An average monthly bill in Bentonville is currently $34.92, while Fayetteville residents pay $28.68. Springdale, Rogers and Lowell residents all pay less. By 2014, the average monthly bill for a Bentonville family will be $44.17.

Mayor Bob McCaslin said the increased rates will help the city prepare for continued growth. He said he recalls when the city first fell behind in wastewater treatment and struggled to play catch-up. The authority was the city’s answer to a wastewater treatment plant on Northeast A Street that was near capacity and facing reduced phosphorus level requirements in its next permit application.

“We did get behind,” said Alderman Ed Austin, who has served on the council for 25 years. “We did get a consent order. At that point, you don’t get to pick and choose your rates. I don’t want to see the city in that position again.”

Mike Bender, director of the city’s Public Works Department, described the wastewater utility’s situation as a household just barely scraping by. Alderman Jim Grider said he expects the city to move forward with maintenance projects on the utility once the rate increases take effect.

“I want to see us quit pushing off these projects,” he said. “They have to be done. We have to quit talking about them and do them. If this goes into effect, we have to do them.”

The council also approved a traffic study with Garver Engineers. The project will be the first citywide traffic study since 2001. The city contracts out an annual signal timing study to evaluate traffic light patterns, but this study will be separate and larger in scope, said Mike Churchwell, transportation director.

He said the city’s traffic issues have changed dramatically since 2001.

“We felt it was wise and prudent to expand this study to include other factors. We’re at a crossroads in Bentonville,” he said. “We’re trying to make traffic, pedestrians and bicyclists one big functional community. We need to know how to handle that.”

The contract stipulates that costs not exceed $167,000. It will be funded by a half-cent sales tax approved by voters in November for road projects. The tax revenue will be divided between cities and the state, with cities receiving 25 percent in turnback revenue.

Churchwell said the state estimates Bentonville will receive $629,000 per year from the tax. The study will help the city determine how to best spent the $6.3 million that the city will collect over the 10-year life of the tax, he said.

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