The City of Parkville increased its sewer rate by six percent last week at a meeting of the board of aldermen.
Board members and city officials have discussed the upcoming need for the hike for several months and pulled the trigger at the Tuesday, July 6 board meeting. According to public works director Alysen Abel, the need to update the city’s sewer system and additional state requirements require additional funding for the sewer fund.
Preliminary approval for the increase was given in May, with city officials and residents alike questioning the need and any options available to either privatize or otherwise alter the current system.
Typically sewer rates are set early in the year, but the process was delayed this year due to a study that was under way to determine the need for an increase. Additionally, the investigations into options to reduce the costs of sewer system administration took additional time.
During the public hearing, resident Gordon Cook – on his third appearance regarding the sewer rate increase – responded to comments made during the preliminary approval hearing in May. Cook pointed out rates have been increased 48 percent in five years.
“There is a continuing concern about how much money the general fund will get from this increase,” Cook said, instead of calculating the actual costs to operate the sewer system and basing rates on this number.
Cook called back to numbers regarding the construction of the new city hall 20 years ago, failed neighborhood improvement districts and other issues including the current ongoing litigation involving county resident Jason Maki. He said the taxpayers have been on the hook for each of these missteps and that the rate increase was a continuation of that trend.
“I think what you’re doing is a little bit of bullying,” Cook told the board, regarding his public comments made at previous meetings. He cited discussions on social media regarding Cook’s statements and the city’s responses. He also said he felt the rates pitted the eastern part of the city against the western.
Mayor Nan Johnston responded, defending the credentials of the consulting firm that calculated the numbers.
Cook said the city and its consultants appear to not know how to set sewer rates and he urged officials to further investigate its decision-making process.
City administrator Joe Parente said city officials have attempted to address Cook’s concerns over the past several months and called on city engineer Jay Norco, North Hills Engineering, to discuss the methodology for setting rates.
Norco admitted the city could attempt to calculate some numbers more precisely, but the reality of running a municipal sewer system was often messy. Pipes don’t last as long as expected, unforeseen infrastructure failures occur and actual costs may vary. Abel said there were two years of back-to-back emergency repairs, which Johnston said was due to deferred maintenance during the economic downturn in 2008.
“I knew that someday we’d have to pay the piper, and we are,” Johnston said, as she came onto the board of aldermen at around that time and recalls the conversations.
Aldermen Tina Welch and Dave Rittman voted no.
The board of aldermen also gave final approval to a voluntary annexation of about 27 acres in the Thousand Oaks subdivision from unincorporated Platte County. The annexation was given preliminary approval on Tuesday, June 15. The board also approved rezoning the new land for construction of residential housing.
Over the years, the city encountered problems with some subdivisions that were both within and outside of city limits. Road maintenance and other city services were made more complicated by the confusing boundaries and city officials decided all new developments should be fully within city limits.