CITY VIEWS FEE HIKES; COUNCIL HOLDS ANNUAL RETREAT

Cape Girardeau residents would pay more for water and trash service in the coming fiscal year under a budget plan submitted Friday to the City Council.

City officials discussed the proposed increases in water and trash collection fees at the council's annual retreat. The daylong meeting was held at Black Forest Villages.

The city administration has proposed raising water fees by 2 percent and trash collection fees by 2.1 percent.

Finance director John Richbourg said the combined fee increase would add 58 cents to the average, monthly residential utility bill, bringing the total bill to $39.01.

The utility bill includes water, trash service and sewer charges. No rate increase is planned in sewer charges.

The City Council will decide whether to increase the water and trash service fees. The fee increases don't require voter approval, Mayor Al Spradling III said.

The increases are part of the proposed 1998-1999 budget.

The city's operating budget is expected to total $23.7 million, up 5.8 percent from this year. Another $9.6 million is slated for capital projects, down 46 percent from this year.

As a result, the entire budget totals $40.8 million, down 11.8 percent from the current year's budget.

The budget includes increased wages and benefits amounting to 6.4 percent on average for full-time city employees. The increased compensation includes a 2 percent across-the-board pay increase for city employees.

The pay increase would take effect with the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.

Coupled with other pay adjustments, the average other pay

Richbourg said the rate increase in water and trash service fees are needed to keep pace with operating expenses and retire debt.

With the rate increased factored in, operating revenue for the water system is projected to total $4.39 million for the coming fiscal year.

Operating expenses are budgeted at $3.12 million, up 4.8 percent from this year. Another $1.16 million is earmarked for retirement of debt associated with the city's purchase of the water system from Union Electric.

Even with a rate increase, the city staff projects revenue in the solid-waste program will decline by more than $341,000 next year.

Operating revenue is projected at a little over $2 million. Operating expenses are expected to total $1.85 million. That doesn't include debt service costs for the operation of the city's transfer station and other solid-waste expenses.

Public Works Director Doug Leslie said the city's transfer station is handling less trash because some of the private haulers have taken their trash to a transfer station in Jackson.

The transfer station is operated by Allied Waste Management, which is connected with Lemmon's landfill in Dexter.

Another private hauler also has switched to dumping trash at the Jackson transfer station because of lower rates, Leslie said.

Cape Girardeau's transfer station is 10 years old. Leslie said the city may change its current method of compacting the trash and utilize larger trucks to haul away the trash. The move could save money, he said.