THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 7, 1995 TAG: 9511070264
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
The City Council must consider dramatic, unexpected water-sewer rate increases over the next three years to pay for a $20 million water and sewer system overhaul, council members were told Monday.
Residents were scheduled to see a 5 percent rate increase come January, the last of three planned years of increases to pay for the project. Further increases were probable but had not been calculated, city officials said.
Revenues have not come in as expected in the past few years, interim City Manager Victor Sharpe said, leading to a shortfall.
Sharpe on Monday proposed a 15 percent rate hike in January, to be followed by a 10 percent increase in January 1997 and a 5 percent increase in 1998.
Those increases would be supplemented by a temporary surcharge in 1997, an increase in rates charged to Pasquotank County, and other revenue-generating measures.
Council members reacted with disappointment and regret. Anita Hummer pointed to former City Manager Ralph Clark as the cause of the unanticipated shortfall.
``Our former manager never gave council the full financial picture,'' Hummer said. ``I think we're in big trouble, and the taxpayer's going to be the loser. And for once, it's not the council's fault.''
Councilman David Bosomworth agreed in part with Hummer, suggesting that Clark's revenue estimates had been over-optimistic. Bosomworth said there was ``no question'' harder numbers should have been examined sooner.
The water-sewer project is a major undertaking to improve the city's infrastructure and treatment of drinking and wastewater. The project began in fall 1993 and is expected to continue to 2000.
Later in the intense and long meeting, the council received a sketch of how a fire station would look if the city's unusable downtown station were demolished and replaced.
Fire Chief Tedd Melvin recommended that the council reject the site, saying it was insufficient and ``a bad investment'' for the city.
Authorities have repeatedly advised the council to abandon the Elizabeth Street site, but it has been kept alive by council members who wanted to keep the station downtown.
Mayor H. Rick Gardner implored the council, which has been delaying action on the station for more than a year, to do something.
``Morale in the Fire Department continues to be totally ignored in this situation,'' Gardner said. ``Please, for one time, let's take some positive action on the fire station.''
Councilman W.L. ``Pete'' Hooker moved to authorize architect's drawings for a station on city property at Knobbs Creek Drive north of downtown. The property was rezoned this year with the intention of putting the station there.
The council voted 7-1 to pursue the Knobbs Creek plan, City Clerk Dianne Pierce said. by CNB