FORT SMITH -- About 30 people appeared at a forum before Fort Smith officials to complain about the prospect of enduring drastic rate increases to pay for sewer-system improvements they say should have been done years ago.
"Why didn't we address this 15 or 20 years ago about this sewer going on instead of knocking folks' socks off right now?" Everett McCurtain asked city directors during the forum after Tuesday's Board of Directors meeting.
McCurtain and the others showed up after hearing that the city directors signed a consent decree with the federal government last month in which officials agreed to make repairs and improvements to the city's sewer system. City staff members estimate the fixes will cost the city $480 million over the 12-year life of the decree.
At least initially, the directors plan to a pay for a large portion of the improvements using the revenue from periodic sewer-rate increases that are expected to cause residents' utility bills to triple over those 12 years.
City Administrator Ray Gosack said last month that the city directors will be asked, probably in April, to approve the first rate increase, which could raise sewer bills by as much as 75 percent.
Monthly utility bills in Fort Smith have charges for water, sewer and trash collection. Officials have said they don't expect water and trash collection rates to increase. The rise in the utility bills will be from the increase in sewer charges.
Some of the six residents who spoke to directors about the sewer problem said the anticipated rate increases will be too great for residents to bear, especially senior citizens on fixed incomes and residents with low incomes.
"We're not going to do it. We're not going to accept it," Constance Durkin told city directors. "We'll fight you at every corner."
City Director Keith Lau asked Durkin what her solution would be instead.
"The solution is in your hands, gentlemen. It's your job, not mine, to find the solution," she said.
Some disgruntled residents have begun a movement, called Take Back the Fort 2015, to change the city's form of government in response to the sewer problem and other matters they feel the directors and city staff have mishandled.
One member who spoke at Tuesday's meeting, Jack Swink, said the group will begin a petition drive next month calling for an election to change Fort Smith from a city administrator to a strong mayor form of government.
In a city administrator form of government, a hired administrator oversees day-to-day operations in the city, while the mayor and city directors form policy. In a strong mayor form, an elected official handles the day-to-day running of the city.
Swink said all the cities of Fort Smith's size in the state that are growing have the strong-mayor form of government.
Fort Smith has been dealing with sewer system problems for decades. But Fort Smith officials say that in the past eight to 10 years, the city has spent more than $200 million to bring the system into compliance with the federal Clean Water Act and its permit to discharge treated sewage into the Arkansas River.
Those efforts haven't been enough, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Justice. The government filed a complaint in federal court last week, accusing the city of violating the act and its discharge permit.
In the consent decree, filed two days after the complaint, the city agreed to the government's requirements and schedule for making sewer-system improvements.
Under the decree, the city will upgrade its two wastewater treatment plants, assess and correct defects in the sewage-collection system and increase its capacity, set up a system-maintenance program and begin a repair program for private sewer lines.
City staff members have estimated the cost of constructing the improvements at $225 million and the operation and maintenance cost at $104 million.
NW News on 01/08/2015