The likelihood of soaring water rates has forced the hand of Bauxite officials, who have considered solutions such as raising rates or unincorporating the town.
During last month's City Council meeting, an Arkansas Rural Water Association representative presented a study on water usage and rates and recommended to the aldermen that the town raise its rates by $18.55 per customer monthly, Mayor Johnny McMahan has said. The representative "made it really clear" that the town needed to increase its rates annually, but it hasn't done so in at least 3½ years, he said.
The council is unsure how to move forward.
The town of 487 has a low tax base and rising maintenance costs for its sewer grinder pumps and sewer plant. Voters in May snubbed a proposed sales tax that would have helped offset the maintenance costs. Finding labor at a decent price to fix the pumps has proved difficult. And aldermen worry that residents, who are mostly elderly, if faced with an increasing water rate would move out of the town, reducing its tax base even more.
In a council workshop Thursday, aldermen tossed around ideas on how to proceed. By the end of the workshop, they were still at a loss.
The town earns a profit from its water bills, which include a $10 monthly fee for sewer maintenance. That money, however, is redirected to the sewer plant and grinder pumps.
Each Bauxite home and business has a sewer grinder pump -- replacing all septic tanks -- that takes sewage to the plant to be treated. The plant was built in 2003, but McMahan and the aldermen have conceded its construction continues to be costly for the town.
"Really the albatross around the neck of Bauxite is the sewer plant and the sewer grinder pumps," said McMahan, who did not hold that position in 2003. "To even stay the same, we need to raise the water rates."
The $10 monthly fee doesn't help much, and the pumps, at $2,500 each, are breaking down often, Alderman Karen Brooks said.
The aldermen have looked at other cities' fee and rate structures. Alderman Paula Matthews said some cities have different rate structures for residents, senior citizens and businesses.
Brooks, who owns a business in the town, recommended placing businesses on a different structure than residents. A household or business that uses 2,000 gallons of water per month currently pays about $40.66. Brooks suggested the town increase rates by 40 percent for businesses, including the school district.
The town should consider different fee structures, Matthews said.
"If we're going to change things, we're going to have to accommodate everybody," she said.
Bauxite was once considered a speed trap, and that's where most of the town's revenue came from, Matthews said, making the comparison with the proposed water rate increase.
"Trying to rob Peter to pay Paul is not fair to everybody," she said. "We've got to figure out a way to keep Bauxite afloat and stay fair -- somehow."
As a last resort, Brooks said the town could unincorporate, dissolve its town government, allow Saline County to run it and tack onto Bryant or Benton utilities.
When Alderman Mona Struble heard the suggestion, she said she nearly fell out of her chair.
"Bauxite's been Bauxite before Benton and Bryant. It's been bigger than one of them at one time," she said. "It can be built back up with the right leadership."
Struble said she didn't want her fellow aldermen to lose confidence or faith.
Under Arkansas Code Annotated 14-40-2001 et seq., a landowner or group of landowners looking for additional municipal services may have its land detached from the municipality in which it is located and annexed into another municipality that borders it. Before that's allowed, the original municipality should have an opportunity to provide those services.
The landowner must provide a statement to the original city, saying that services are unavailable, and may ask adjacent cities about annexation if the original city cannot provide the services. The adjacent cities' councils have to approve such an ordinance, resolution or motion, agreeing to the annexation and services.
"I just hate the thought of not being incorporated any more and being just a community," Matthews said. "I hate the thought of that. But at the same time, it all makes sense."
Matthews said the town shouldn't resort to that just yet.
"We have to try to help ourself before we try to throw ourself on someone else," she said.
That would be the last resort, Brooks reiterated.
"I've lived here for 38 years, and there's a lot of old-timers that probably won't want to unincorporate Bauxite," she said. "But if they're going to have these enormous $100 water bills, they might."
Metro on 08/11/2014