Scott City takes look at sewer rates

The Scott City government will soon examine raising the rates it charges to water and sewer customers, a change the city's mayor said hasn't occurred during his time in city government -- at least eight years.

Currently residential customers in Scott City pay 20 cents per hundred gallons of water (with a minimum charge of $6). The charge for sewer service is 76 percent of the water bill. For a home that uses 4,000 gallons of water per month, the charge for water is $8 and $6.08 for sewer service, a combined total lower than Cape Girardeau, Jackson or Chaffee, a city with a lower population.

"I've really fought hard, and so has the council, to keep from raising taxes," Porch said Tuesday. "But services are different. They cost money to provide. We're looking at depreciation of our system, and we've got to be thinking of our future."

Porch said repairs are common with the city's aging infrastructure, part of which was inherited from Illmo when it consolidated with Scott City in 1980.

"We're still discovering lines nobody knew were there," Porch said.

A major repair looming sparked the current talk of raising rates at Monday night's council meeting, when public works head Jack Rasnic informed the council a repair in the neighborhood of $20,000 would be needed on a 20-year-old pump at one of the city's biggest sewer system lift stations. The pumps carry sewage through the system to the place where they're eventually deposited.

The council authorized an emergency expenditure, but Rasnic said one pump at the lift station still works, and customers shouldn't see any interruption in service.

The city has the funds in an emergency reserve, said Porch, but the problem highlighted the city's need to bring in more money to keep up with the costs of maintaining infrastructure.

If several such repairs were to be needed within a short time frame, Porch said the financial drain on the city would be difficult to deal with.

The city's contract for trash service with CWI Inc., to be signed soon, will include a cost increase, Porch said, meaning Scott City may need to raise trash rates, too.

How much costs might increase for any of these city services is yet to be determined.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182