At tonight’s special called meeting, Demorest Council members voted to raise water rates. The previously proposed rates would have raised the rates across the board, but the rates voted on tonight only raise rates on those using over 2000 gallons a month. “This will protect those who use only the minimal amount of water and are possibly seniors living on a fixed income,” noted City Manager Steve Lindsey. The vote was unanimous and the new rates go into effect on July 1 which means that the next bill water customers receive will reflect the new rates. The estimated increase to the bottom line of Demorest’s revenue is expected to be around $408,000 according to Lindsey.
The increase is coming at a critical time as past financial issues continue to effect the bottom line for the City. Mayor Rick Austin noted that “no accurate financial picture until recently has been available” and that “it is clear to the operations of the City, particularly in the past few weeks, how inaccurate the budget was that was presented to the Council members. Numbers were skewed or just plain false.” Austin feels “the budgeting process this year was intentionally complex and obfuscated the true number including unpaid bills from 2012.” The Budget for this year was prepared by former City Manager, Juanita Crumley. Austin further noted that the month of June “was extraordinarily tight” as the budget also including raising the water rates in February and did not include paying bills discovered that were unpaid dating back to 2012. Those bills have all been paid.
Additionally, it was discovered last month that some 250 customers were incorrectly coded as residential when they are commercial. Those corrections were made and those customers saw an increase in their bills last month as much as double the previous month. The extra revenue from those reclassified accounts will help ease the July budget numbers.
The new rates are as follows:
Residential Water
0-2000 gallons 2001-5000 gallons 5001-10,000 gallons greater than 10,000 gallons
Inside City 15.00 Unchanged 4.8 per 1000 gallons 5.3 per 1000 gallons 5.8 per 1000 gallons
Outside City 23.00 Unchanged 5.0 per 1000 gallons 5.5 per 1000 gallons 6.0 per 1000 gallons
Commerical Water
0-2000 gallons 2001-5000 gallons 5001-10,000 gallons greater than 10,000 gallons
Inside City 30.00 Unchanged 5.15 per 1000 gallons 5.3 per 1000 gallons 5.8 per 1000 gallons
Outside City 40.00 Unchanged 5.35 per 1000 gallons 5.5 per 1000 gallons 6.0 per 1000 gallons
Industrial Water
0-2000 gallons 2001-5000 gallons 5001-10,000 gallons greater than 10,000 gallons
Inside City 30.00 Unchanged 5.15 per 1000 gallons 5.30 per 1000 gallons 5.4 per 1000 gallons
Outside City 40.00 Unchanged 5.15 per 1000 gallons 5.30 per 1000 gallons 5.4 per 1000 gallons
