Water for Hornsby, Again
The Town of Hornsby Aldermen, at their regular meeting on December 6, voted to table an ordinance for a water rate increase that Hornsby Mayor Megan Hedwall said was necessary to fund a project to improve the water infrastructure in the town.
The rate increase proposed hiked rates on the first 2000 gallons from $15 to $28.15 for residential with similar percentage raises in rates for commercial and areas outside of the city served by the Hornsby Water System, with a high rate of commercial use by an outside the city facility going from $24.30 to $45.56.
In early November, Hedwall estimated that “Hornsby Water District’s minimum billing will need to be increased by 50% and there will need to be a 20% usage increase across the Board.” Hedwall estimated that current water rates would only cover “1/3 of the project depreciation, none of the interest expense, and none of the principal repayment.”
Nevertheless, Hedwall’s veto of the project was overridden by the Board of Aldermen in November.
Hedwall told the Board of Aldermen that because of the passage in November, she had signed a contract with TLM, which some members of the board objected to, saying she did not have the authority.
Hedwall’s response was that the board was doing the grant, not her, and her signing was upon the direction of the aldermen.
When asked if she had read the contract, she indicated that she had read portions of it.
With no rate increase approved, Hedwall was asked how she hoped the city could pay for the water project. She declined to comment.
Background: On October 4, the aldermen were informed they needed to find an engineer, appoint a grant administrator, and approve a resolution to get the ball rolling to take advantage of a potential $592,000 for water infrastructure. The aldermen then called for a meeting on October 7, where they approved the first reading of the resolution, under protest from Hedwall, who said not enough notice had been given to the public.
The next meeting, called for October 17, saw the board unanimously pass the resolution on the second reading and vote to hire TLM as the engineer for the project, but not without a warning from Hedwall.
“We will have to take on debt and borrow or raise water rates,” she cautioned prior to the vote.
Another meeting was posted in the Bolivar Bulletin Times, at the request of Alderman Wayne Isbell, for October 20, but Hedwall refused to let it happen, citing public notice concerns. “There was no meeting. One member of the Board of Aldermen ‘called’ a meeting with virtually no public notification,” said Hedwall. “Due to the fact that the Board did not call the meeting, I brought it to their attention that there was no meeting and refused to call it to order.”
On November 1, Hedwall vetoed the acceptance of the grant, but was overridden by the Board.