Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 7, 1995 TAG: 9506070049
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The county Public Service Authority board voted 6-1 Monday to raise the rates for the majority of its 1,940 water customers in the rural areas outside Blacksburg and Christiansburg. Only member Joe Stewart of Elliston opposed the change.
The move, which followed a brief public hearing that drew no speakers, means 1,290 water users across the county now will pay the same rates in effect since the spring for the 650 Shawsville and Elliston customers. It has no effect on water rates in the two towns, which have their own utility systems.
Under the change, the average monthly water bill will increase to $25.75 from $24.10 for 5,000 gallons.
The authority board also increased the fees for connecting to the authority's water and sewer lines to a uniform $500 each. The sewer fee is now $400; the water-connection fee is $450. The public utility sought the change to fully cover hookup costs.
Yet later Monday, the authority board agreed to waive nearly half the water hookup fee on a one-time basis for 25 homes along Gardner Street in Lafayette, a small community in eastern Montgomery. Those residents have until the end of the month to agree to pay just $250 instead of $450 to hook into the Christiansburg-to-Elliston water system, which went into service this spring.
That move followed a complaint last month from Don Robertson, who said he and his neighbors had been promised two years ago that the hookup fee would be waived because the state was paying to extend the water line past Lafayette and to the Interstate 81 rest area at the Ironto exit. Gary Gibson, the service authority's director, said the county official who briefed the neighborhood on the project denies making such a promise.
But at least five board members sided with Robertson. Members Henry Jablonski and Joe Gorman opposed the move. The eight people along Gardner Street who have already paid the full fee will receive $200 refunds.
by CNB