CITY EYES RAISING FEES TO UPGRADE WATER WORKS

Cape Girardeau must raise fees by 16.5 percent to expand the water system and meet operating costs, the water system manager told the City Council Friday.

The manager, Tom Taggart, suggested the council increase water fees by 3 percent in January and then seek voter approval of a bond issue next April that would be funded with a 13.5 percent fee hike.

The council has a policy that requires voter approval for fee hikes of more than 5 percent a year.

Proposed fee hikes would increase the average, monthly residential bill from $14.44 to $16.74 by July 1996. The average residential customer would pay $2.30 more a month for water service or $27.60 a year.

The average commercial customer would pay about $10 more a month or $121 more a year, Taggart said. The average bill would be slightly more than $71 a month.

The proposed fee hikes come on the heels of a 5 percent increase in consumption fees in January.

Taggart's comments came at the City Council retreat Friday at Black Forest Villages.

The all-day study session at the rustic site north of Cape Girardeau focused on a myriad of city issues. The council will wind up its retreat with budget discussions today.

In addition to water, the council took a look at trash services. The city wants to eliminate its commercial trash collection service by July because it is losing out to competition from private haulers.

The city currently picks up trash for 465 businesses. The number of customers has declined since 1989, when the city had 1,000 to 1,100 commercial customers.

Assistant City Manager Doug Leslie said the commercial trash service barely is breaking even and has competition from three private haulers.

The city needs to purchase new equipment to continue operating. To do so would require raising fees and likely prompt a number of the city's commercial customers to change to private haulers, Leslie said.

Assuming council approval, the city plans to bid out its customer list to the private haulers, as well as its trucks and trash containers. The service's three employees would be given other jobs within the public works department.

As to the water system, Taggart said a bond issue and fee hike are needed to pay for about $7 million in capital improvements, including the estimated $5 million expansion of the city's Cape Rock water plant.

Increased development is putting an ever-growing strain on the water system, which is pumping more than 1.6 billion gallons of water annually.

The daily capacity of the two water plants is 7.3 million gallons. Taggart said the water system could be at capacity within two years.

Without water plant expansion, the city might have to restrict water usage, he said.

City growth is also affecting the operations budget. Taggart said plans to replace water lines and old meters have been put on hold while the city extends water lines to new developments.

The city's water fund could finish the year in the red. "The best we can hope for is to probably break-even this year," Taggart said.

Developers pay for much of the water line work, but the city foots the bill for fire hydrants, fittings and engineering work.

Taggart said it takes years for the city to recover its costs.

Most cities, he said, require developers to pay all of the costs of extending water lines, suggested the council consider making developers pay more of the cost.