City to raise water rates

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December 28, 2012 - 12:00 AM

Water and wastewater rates will be increasing for 2013 to account for inflation over the past several years, necessary changes after funds in the city of Iola have seen complete depletion.
There will be a 10 percent increase in rates effective Jan. 1. This comes after an 18 percent increase in rates over the past year, which City Administrator Carl Slaugh said proved to be “inadequate” to surmount inflation. This means a 30 percent increase to the funds overall, which Slaugh said is still below what the state of Kansas would recommend based on a national average.
He said both the wastewater and water funds for the city have been depleted, and have been going into the negative. In 2010, $300,000 was transferred from the wastewater fund to the water fund, after it was depleted. By year’s end, the wastewater fund was at negative.
Slaugh said he did not know a specific reason for the lack of oversight to the funds’ stability other than people’s reluctance to adjust utility rates.
“There seems to be a great reluctance in raising utility rates, even more than property tax,” Slaugh said. “The rates affect everybody.”
Slaugh said gas and electric rates may change for the new year as well. However, he said fluctuations in those rates are common from month-to-month, due to the fact that they change with the market.

SLAUGH SAID the city will be updating the sewage lines and lift station pumps in 2013 as well.
The $1.5 million dollar project comes off of $768,000 in grants provided by the Environmental Protection Agency to repair the pumps and re-line the sewage lines that run throughout the city.
“There are a lot of pipes that are cracked or even collapsed in some areas,” Slaugh said. “When we get a large rain, the rainwater can get into the sterile sewer water.”
Mitch Phillips, gas, water and wastewater superintendent for the city of Iola, said he has not experienced an undertaking this large. In the past, repairs have been made on very small levels and he said this time around will be much different.
“The sewer system needs to be around for the life of Iola,” Phillips said. “This is one of the biggest projects I’ve ever seen — we’ve never tried anything like this.”
Four of the oldest pump stations will be repaired, they have been in place since the 1970s. Phillips said the pump stations are meant to pump sewage water to a higher elevation, so gravity can then move it through the pipe systems through the filtration process and eventually into the lagoons south of Iola.
The sewage pipes will be re-lined with a heavy urethane fiberglass compound, that runs along the inside of the pipes. It contours with the curves and bends in an approximate quarter-inch diameter.
“A lot of the equipment has just seen normal wear and tear,” Phillips said. “Some of the pipes have been around since day one.”
Slaugh said many of the issues with the sewer lines came up during the 2007 flood as well, but many of the other issues accumulate over time as the pipes erode.
Now that the city is making adjustments to the utilities, Slaugh said they can focus their attention on making improvements through the project.
“We didn’t have enough money for the wastewater improvement project, so it has been stalled for the past couple of years,” Slaugh said.
Phillips said the wastewater pipes and pumps are a good place for the city to start, but he would like to eventually see a complete overhaul of any water lines and pumps in Iola.
The deadline for the project is June 2013, but Slaugh said he expects the work to only take about two or three weeks in its entirety — once bids are opened and selected.
Official bids for the work will be opened on Jan. 8.

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