Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 1, 1990 TAG: 9007020270
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There's little doubt the rate increases are needed. They would pay for $32 million in improvements to the city's water and sewer systems, which now are operating at or near capacity. The current facilities were designed to meet the city's needs only through the mid-1980s.
City Manager Robert Herbert and Finance Director Joel Schlanger, who recommended the plan, made a big mistake by not bringing it before City Council earlier.
Some council members understandably balked at having to consider such a costly proposal in so little time, and just before two new council members take office next week.
It's appropriate at this point that the new council members help decide the fate of the five-year plan. They'll have to live with the rate increases.
Even so, the proposal's timing and politics have nothing to do with its merits. The fact is that the city must undertake this project to ensure that sewer and water facilities will be adequate for the next two or three decades.
City Council on Monday did approve a 12 percent rate hike to take effect in August. That was the increase recommended in the administration's plan for the first of five years. The rate hike is needed to fund upgrading of the Falling Creek water-filter plant. It will not, however, cover other needed improvements and expansion of the city's sewer and water infrastructure.
Roanoke's sewage-treatment plant has a rated capacity to handle 35 million gallons of sewage a day. But the flow has been averaging close to 40 million tons daily, and the volume of discharge into the Roanoke River often violates the state permit.
Meanwhile, though the city has no water shortage, water pressure has dropped below acceptable levels in dry summer months because filter plants and pumping facilities are inadequate.
The administration would pay for expansion by raising sewer rates 65 percent and water rates 61 percent over five years. "That is a little too much for me at one time," said Councilman Howard Musser, who opposed the plan.
But bonds must be sold to fund the projects. And the city can hardly sell bonds based on a one-year rate hike with no plan or promise to continue raising rates until they cover the costs.
The alternatives are to raise the user rates now to cover the entire cost, or raise them now and implement the increases gradually - 12 percent annually over five years - as the administration recommends.
Relatively speaking, the proposed rate hikes aren't onerous. The average daily cost for both water and sewer service for a typical Roanoke customer would rise from 28 cents to 45 cents over the five years. That's a big increase, but still far below the current statewide average of 60 cents per day.
Indeed, a recent survey found that Roanoke has the lowest water rates in the state. The city last hiked its overall water rates in 1976. Overall sewer rates were last raised in 1981, and were lowered in 1985.
Roanoke has come under increasing pressure from state agencies to upgrade and expand its sewer and water systems. Enforcement and penalties will grow harsher if the city fails to act. The state even has the authority to ban permits and prohibit new hookups.
The city, however, should act not in response to state mandates, but for its own future. Some council members will find political value in making a show of resisting higher water and sewer rates. But they should consider their responsibility as city leaders.
When the administration resubmits its five-year plan, council members should ask themselves: Can Roanoke hope to prosper and attract new businesses and industries without adequate water and sewer facilities?
by CNB