LR sewer-rate rises seen as 'reasonable'

City board vote likely in September

Members of the Little Rock Board of Directors are receptive to Little Rock Wastewater's proposal for a series of sewer rate increases that would last through 2021, according to their comments during a presentation Tuesday.

The city board likely will vote on the increases at a meeting in mid-September after three readings of the ordinance at separate board meetings where people will have the opportunity to comment on the proposal.

The agency's plan calls for 4.75 percent increases every year from 2017 through 2021. That is in addition to an already-approved increase to take effect Jan. 1 that will bump ratepayers' bills an estimated 4.35 percent.

The bill for a ratepayer currently paying $40 a month for sewer services would rise to $52.65 by 2021 with next year's increase and the proposed increases factored in.

Little Rock sewer rates are included on a customer's Central Arkansas Water bill. The yearly increases only would be applied to the sewer portion of the bill. There's a 10 percent franchise fee levied on that rate collected by the city that also would increase respectively with the sewer rate. The $1 sewer line replacement fee on each bill would not change.

Little Rock Wastewater Chief Executive Officer Greg Ramon said the revenue from the increases is needed to mitigate sewer overflows as mandated in a court-ordered settlement and an Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality consent action order.

The 2017-2021 rate increases would raise $212.9 million, the utility estimates.

The sewer agency has been dealing with the mandates since a 2000 lawsuit by the Sierra Club of Arkansas. A plan to correct sewer overflows under previous CEO Reggie Corbitt relied heavily on building additional storage to handle the system during heavy storms when water intake is above capacity and often causes overflows.

Corbitt was fired in January 2014 and Ramon took the helm in October. Ramon spent his first months revising the agency's plan that now focuses on repairing old pipes with the hope that fixing the infrastructure will prevent storm water from getting into the system in the first place.

"I'm really wanting to shift gears. I don't want [storage] to be the principle component of [the plan.] I really want to renew the system," Ramon told the board. "By renewing the system we reduce the amount of water that gets into the system, therefore meeting the requirements [under the consent decree.]"

Eight of the 10 city directors commented on the rate increase proposal at Tuesday's meeting. All were supportive, calling it "reasonable" and "forward thinking." Ward 2 City Director Ken Richardson and Joan Adcock, city director at-large, were the only board members who didn't speak on the rate schedule.

"I felt a lot more comfortable with what I was hearing than I thought I would. I do understand why we have to do this, and I feel communication with residents is going to be key to making them understand we are going to have these increases," Ward 6's Doris Wright said. "There's no way around it."

In addition to repairing faulty sewer pipes and inspecting all 130 miles of the agency's pipes greater than 18 inches in diameter, there will be funding set aside to help residents replace aging, privately owned pipes that connect to the public mains.

Ratepayers already are charged a $1 monthly fee for a sewer line replacement program that allows property owners to recoup up to $2,500 of the cost to replace their private lines. There have been 819 residents to make use of the program since it began in 2013, but available funds run out quickly and 127 people are on the waiting list. Another 230 have withdrawn their applications.

Ramon wants to expand the program through bond revenue and double the number of residents it can provide funding to each year. The idea is that a large amount of water that enters the sewer system gets in through cracked private sewer lines.

In addition to expanding that program, Little Rock Wastewater also is proposing to replace the parts of the private lines that enter public property and connect to the public mains whenever crews are working on the public pipe in an area.

Another part of Ramon's plan allots $58 million to build infrastructure at treatment plants that would allow the agency to meet anticipated future requirements on the amount of certain chemicals allowed in treated wastewater. A state mandate on the limit of ammonia allowed is forthcoming, Ramon said.

"I'm here to do the best thing for the citizens. I believe we've done everything we can to keep rates as low as possible. I want to say, it's a very expansive, very expensive system. It's no different than your car or house," said Ramon, adding that it needs to be maintained and sometimes replaced.

Metro on 07/29/2015

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