Fees go up but by less than requested amount

Pratt Tribune Article 10/20/2012
By Conrad Easterday
editor@pratttribune.com

Late penalties and security deposits for City of Pratt electric service will increase before the year is over — but the adjustments will be smaller than the amounts sought by city staff.

Trying to combat a trend that seems to have begun with the economic downturn of 2008, staff asked the City Commission two meetings ago to increase the late penalty on utility bills from 2 percent to 10 percent and the deposit on electric service from $100 to $250. They also asked for an increase in the water service deposit from $30 to $50.

The Commission only approved the water deposit increase, which will take effect Nov. 1. The commissioners tabled the other two fee hikes over concerns that the requested amounts were too steep. On Monday, the group decided their first instincts had been correct. Late penalties were increased only to 5 percent instead of 10 percent, and the electric deposit will increase to $200 instead of $250.

City Attorney Ken Van Blaricum was asked to draw up an ordinance reflecting the changes and to add measures that would allow the city to demand more than $200 from customers who have previously left the city with unpaid bills. Conversely, new customers who can provide letters of credit may be treated more favorably. The new penalties and deposits may seem unfair to some, City Manager Dave Howard noted, but the only other way for the city to recover its losses is to increase electric rates for everyone.

In other business, the Commssion took the first steps toward a much-expanded upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant. The original plan would have cost the city just under $1 million after $656,800 in loan forgiveness from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. It focused on an incremental change that would have addressed only the most urgent of the plant’s problems. The new plan will cost the city an estimated $2.65 million, but it will address several issues cited by KDHE in its last assessment of the facility.

The upgrade will make the plant more efficient reducing the amount of an expected rate increase and the city has setting aside funding for the project for some time.

Monday 22-Oct-2012