Scott City keeps pledge on water rates

It happens all too often. A municipality promises it won't raise water rates for a few years if its residents will approve a multimillion-dollar bond issue to pay for new projects.

Invariably, something goes wrong: project delays, extra costs or other miscalculations. City officials often offer these up as excuses why they have to raise rates.

But in Scott City's search for reliable water treatment, its leaders have been determined not to break its covenant with voters.

Some might suggest Scott City understandably could have raised its water rates after the trouble it has encountered in trying to get a new $2.2 million water plant. There was the mystifying slow response from the Department of Natural Resources, which normally gives approval within 90 days. In this case, it took a year -- and DNR offered no good explanation.

Then when bids on the treatment plant finally were received last October, the low bids were $750,000 more than the engineers had estimates. The city negotiated with the low bidder, but the shortfall still stands at $650,000.

Time to raise rates, right? No. Scott City's council decided to keep its promise. Scott City will borrow the rest of the money through a 20-year lend-lease loan, using the city's new water treatment plant as collateral.

Raising rates probably would have been the easiest solution. But Scott City dealt with its problems through creative thinking instead of quickly passing the costs on to the rest of us. Other municipalities could take note.