04/26/1982 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Search

Council Meeting April 26, 1982 pay Metropolitan Waste Control charges, considering rate increase in near future.) Mr. Marier asked Mr. Volk if he knew how other communities operate their systems. Mr. Volk said he was familiar with some. Mr. Marier noted Hugo operates their sewer at $15.00 a quarter, water at $9.00 a quarter and he also quoted other cities rates. Mr. Schumacher said he had asked Mr. Volk how they operate so inexpensively and he said they do not maintain their system. When there is a problem they call in a specialist, he resolves the problem and no further maintenance is done. 18! Mr. Groen had a publication, American Management Systems which states that if you wish to improve financial condition of a city it is important to have cost accounting done for all governmental services so that you have the information to make the decisions, be it police department, parks department, etc. He noted that in the past two or three years we have developed and started to identify the cost of operating the utility system. Now the question is how much of this cost should the user be financing and should the City subsidize or loan money to the system. He noted other small water systems in this state that has substantial users fees and said the one reason is the small number of users of the system and cost more to operate. Mayor Benson felt the biggest question at this time is can we zero in on how the costs can be reduced at this time until there are more users on this system. Mr. Groen said this was not a question that he could answer. Mr. Marier asked how many hours a day are spent in operating the system? Mr. Volk did not know. His figures were in dollars not hours. Mr. Groen stated these are the costs of the operation. The rates that are proposed are the rates that will cover the cost of the operation. At the present rates we are looking at a pretty significant deficit and the Council should make some decision on how to finance the deficit, be it an increase in users fees, a temporary loan from the General Fund or whatever. In 1982 the City is looking at a loss of $14,000 on the system. - Mr. Reinert questioned the high cost of salaries for the system. He felt not all of the salaries should be charged to the users. Mr. Marier said he wanted Mr. Schumacher to do a study on hours spent, what for,how work is performed on weekends, how may breakdowns in the past year, what kind of manhole repair we had, total hours of treatment and flushing. Mr. Marier moved to have Mr. Volk furnish Mr. Schumacher the items he asked for in the previous paragraph and Mr. Schumacher can present a summary to the Council and he moved to table the rate increase until the Council has the outcome of the study. Mr. Reinert seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously. Mayor Benson thanked Mr. Groen and said the Council did not mean to imply they were questioning his figures. ATTORNEY's REPORT Mr. Hawkins said he did not have a report. CABLE TV STATUS REPORT Mrs. Elsenpeter showed the Council a map of the Initial Service Area. The City Hall will have a cable coming in and out of the Hall.