Evansville Courier & Press
By Herb Marynell, Courier & Press Reporter(812) 464-7434 Or [email protected]
December 13, 2000
Evansville water and sewer customers better hope that utility officials land federal and state grants for $200 million in improvements during the next 10 years.
Without such grants, the projects called for in a utilities master plan would be "unaffordable" for customers to bear through bonds and loans backed by rate increases, a workshop for state legislators and business officials was told Tuesday.
The city's current sewer rates already are the highest among Indiana's largest cities and 1
If grants and other funding sources aren't found, the sewer rates may have to increase by 66 percent during 10 years, he said.
That could mean sewer rate hikes of 4.6 percent in a year, 25 percent in 2003 and 37 percent in 2006, Cameron said.
Since 1987, sewer rates jumped 138 percent for residential users and 198 percent for large commercial and industrial users, he said.
"There is a limit on what we can put on the backs of our ratepayers," Suzanne Nicholson of the Evansville Utility Board told workshop participants.
Cameron said Evansville's current water rates are "competitive" with other Indiana cities, but without outside funding, water rate hikes totaling 32.8 percent are needed in the next 10 years.
The workshop is the first of several steps a committee of utility and government officials is taking in coming months to spread the word about the utility's future needs.
The utility has hired a consultant, Donald F. Roecker, to work with Indiana's congressional delegate to find federal money. Local state legislators, business organizations and the city are being asked to push for state grants.
State legislators said city officials shouldn't expect substantial state funding soon because the state's two-year budget going before the Legislature next spring is being finalized.
Addressing some of Evansville's utility needs may occur during the 2003 Legislature, city officials were told.
A master plan is recommending $150.7 million in sewer improvements during 10 years.
That includes $19.5 million for projects required by federal laws, $26.9 million in rehabilitation projects and $104.3 million to meet local residential and business growth.
The master plan also recommends $46.8 million in water projects over 10 years, including $10.4 million to meet federal regulations, $8.4 million for rehabilitation projects and $28 million to handle growth.
Roecker said most federal and state grants don't fund projects to handle a utility system's growth, but some economic development money is available.
City officials are looking at ways to increase fees and cut costs, recently hiking water line front footage costs and tap-in fees and turning installation of new water lines over to private developers.
Officials also have discussed raising water and sewer rates for customers outside the city to offset projects to meet growth in those areas. Current utility rates are the same for customers inside and outside the city.
Roecker said Evansville's sewer rates are high because the city doesn't receive its fair share of federal grants from the state.
That's because the state guidelines on allocating grants favor cities that dump waste into the rivers and streams that have low water flow, he said. Since Evansville is on the Ohio River, the city is last in line for many grants, he said.
Indianapolis, which is on the White River, wants more than $800 million from the state to deal with combined sewer overflow problems, Roecker said.
Utility officials urged state legislators to encourage guideline changes to steer more money to Evansville.
For more news and information, visit us at http://www.courierpress.com
