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Show PG City Council's Proposed Utility Rate Hike Draws a Crowd . '"vi ".. A " i ' " a 7 ;;--v - - - vr a : - - f . . , , , ...: A large number of Pleasant Pleas-ant Grove residents attended a special work session of the Pleasant Grove City Council Coun-cil last Tuesday to discuss the city's proposed increase in city utility rates. The meeting lasted last-ed almost four hours. The council expected a large crowd so the meeting was held at the Pleasant Grove Junior Ju-nior High School auditorium. This was the second week in a row that the council had discussed dis-cussed the proposed rate hike with citizens. City Administrator Scott Darrington went through all of the proposed rate increases item by item with the citizens. All of the proposals were shown on a screen so that everyone could see what was being discussed. He said that the city should have made the increases quite a while ago but had tried not to have to do it. However, things have reached a point where the city must make the increases and noted that the city has prepared pre-pared a four year implementation implementa-tion plan to get the city up to where it should be to cover expenses. ex-penses. Darrington stated that the city council had met with a consultant con-sultant to see what rates the city should charge to cover the costs of providing the services of water, wa-ter, sewer, police, fire, parks, recreation, streets and dispatch. It was noted that those services servic-es provided by taxes from the general fund are police, fire and parks. Those which are financed fi-nanced through taxes and fees are streets, recreation and dispatch, dis-patch, and the only one covered by enterprise funds is water. A comparison of Pleasant Grove's rate increase proposal with those of surrounding cities for the combined city services in 2011 showed Cedar Hills billing residents with a fee of $94.60, along with Lindon with $75.90, American Fork, $100.36, Spanish Fork, $82.72, Saratoga Springs, $92.35, and Pleasant Grove, $79.67. In 2010 Pleasant Grove combined city services are $64.12. Many residents who addressed ad-dressed the council noted that they did not know how they would be able to pay this large of an increase in utility payments, pay-ments, etc. They were told that there could be a possible discount based on- income and residents qualify for a discount based on property tax abatement. abate-ment. Several residents directed questions to the council during dur-ing the evening and most were Most citizens felt the water rate hikes were too large of an increase. Some felt that other city services should be cut rather than increase these costs. Others said it appeared that somewhere along the way the city made a mistake and they felt the city needs to get some stimulus money to help out. concerned with the size of the increase in payments to the city for these services. Most felt it was too large of an increase. Some felt that other city services ser-vices should be cut rather than increase these costs. Councilman Jensen explained ex-plained that the lower rates plus the economy slowing down has used up the rainy day fund the city has used to cover some items. It was explained that the city had hoped to not have to make the increase for some time but it had reached the point they could not do that any longer. Some people said it appeared ap-peared that somewhere along the way the city made a mistake and they felt the city needs to get some stimulus money to help out. Council Member Kim Robinson said the rates have been ignored for so long that we need to do something. "We are not going to pass the problems on to the future and we are not going to blame the past," she said. Some residents complained com-plained that some people do not get the city newsletter which is included monthly in the bill- "Utilities" continued on page 3 "Utilities" continued from page 1 ing because the bills are sent to property owners and they do not get to read the information sent out. One man said that it is the citizens civic duty to come to city council meetings and get the information for themselves. Council Member Boyd asked if the citizens would like another opportunity to discuss these items again and this would give the staff enough time to gather more information. Most said they would like to meet again. After meeting with the council, many people told the council members that they have a much better understanding of how these things must be done. Even council members indicated indicat-ed that they were much more informed in-formed following this meeting. City Administrator Dar-rington Dar-rington even gave out his telephone tele-phone numbers so that people can contact him with their ques tions. All of the city staff noted that they would be willing to answer people's questions, too. The council will allow citizens citi-zens to ask more questions during dur-ing the open session at the next city council meeting if they desire de-sire to do so. |
