Water rates increase for improvement district
Marion City Commissioners approved an increase in the water rate Monday for Marion County Improvement District No. 2, Marion County Lake.
The improvement district has bought water from the city since 1993 at the rate of $1.60 per thousand gallons. It has never increased, though operational costs of the water plant have gone up 48 percent in the past eight years.
City administrator Dennis Nichols recommended the city increase the rate to match the increased costs. It equals an increase of 77 cents per thousand gallons, to $2.37.
The district paid $10,475 for water in 2001. The increase will generate another $5,000 for the city.
It will take effect Oct. 1.
The city is facing about $400,000 in increased costs to upgrade the water treatment plant to meet new water quality standards. Since the contract with the improvement district forbids passing increased capitalization costs on to the improvement district, most of this cost will be borne by city customers.
Nichols said city residents will see a fee increase of $5 to $6 per month in early 2003, when the cost is known. No increase is planned this year.
"This kind of increase will be going on in almost all communities in Kansas since all cities are impacted by the new water quality standards," he said.
Library
Work is progressing rapidly at the new library, reported Janet Marler, librarian.
Sunflower Construction, contractor for the project, is providing trucks and labor to haul all shelves and materials from the old library to the new one. Because the transfer will take place over just a few days, the library closes Saturday at its old location and won't re-open until July 15, at the new one.
Marler said she doesn't think the library will be able to open any earlier.
"It will take the full three weeks to move," she said.
She and Nichols said the gesture by Sunflower was just one of many efforts by the contractor to help out. Without them, city employees and volunteers would have had to move the books and shelves.
"They've really gone above and beyond," Nichols said. "They've been exceptional to work with."
In a related matter, commissioners approved an ordinance to increase the library mill levy from four to eight mills.
The library has used four mills since at least 1983 but the amount does not meet expenses. Operating costs in 2002 will be the equivalent of six mills.
Since the library will be larger and open more hours, greater expenses are expected. Further, the city now has replacement insurance coverage for the 20,000 books in the library.
While budget authority will be eight mills, Nichols said he didn't expect the library to reach that amount for several years. Eight mills is sought so, as inflation increases through the years, the city can slowly raise the levy if needed, he said.
There is a 60-day waiting period after second publication of the legal notice. If the required percentage of registered voters sign a protest petition, the matter will be put to a public vote.
