GALION—Galion City Council members serving on the utility committee met recently to discuss inevitable rate increases. According to a city ordinance, utilities must be reviewed twice a year. During the last review in August, a decision was made not to raise electric costs even though power cost adjustments suggested otherwise.
According to estimates, a power rate increase of 7/10th of a cent per kilowatt is now recommended. That increase would cost the average family of four an additional $7.00 per month on their utility bill.
The sticking point on that proposal was brought to light by Paula Durbin, Council At Large member, who expressed her concern for people on a fixed income. She noted that while Social Security recipients received a modest 5.9% increase in social security, insurance, and other expenses are rising. She asked the newly elected Auditor Brian Satterfield the progress in the reconciliation of the city’s books.
“We are no further along than the last meeting,” Satterfield said. The books have not been reconciled since June of 2021. Not knowing how the year balanced out and exactly what are in the funds, Durbin expressed her reluctance to move forward.
Mayor Tom O’Leary said he sympathized with Durbin in that he himself lives on a fixed income.
“A decision was made in August of 2021 not to raise rates but to keep an eye on where we were, find out our balances and then make a decision today,” O’Leary said.
The Mayor went on to tell the council committee that the city paid $300,000 more for power than they charged consumers. With current costs higher than expected and the continued expected rises, the rate increase would bring power costs and revenue in line.
The Mayor said he did not like to raise rates, but because the books are not reconciled, there is uncertainty about what the balance was at the end of 2021.
Durbin replied: “ It’s not practical to add an increase to utilities if we don’t have last year’s balance. Can we put this off?”
Auditor Satterfield offered a compromise suggesting that in light of projected power costs for 2022 of 9.685 million dollars, a smaller increase be made to cover the projected year’s upcoming expenses and then decide on further increases after the books are reconciled. The increase would be half as much as originally suggested or about a $3.50 increase per month for a family of four.
“If we get our books reconciled and we are a lot more healthy than we think, we can either pull that off in August or add the other in,” Satterfield said.
The committee, seeking additional information and in order to attend a meeting explaining projected costs, decided to table the issue until the next meeting.
In other business, O’Leary warned the council of the need to significantly adjust sewer rates to be on par with water rates. The challenge, according to the Mayor, is to raise sewer rates to pay interest and pay down significant debt for the screw pump and lift station.
“The city will have a bigger headache for a longer period of time by being the good guys and good gals and not raising rates significantly,” O’Leary said.
While he suggested using ARPA (American Recovery Plan Act) monies to pay the debt down now, there would need to be allowances in the budget for those monies next year, translating to a rate increase.
While no rate increases were passed at the meeting, hikes are heading toward Galion residents in the near future.
The next scheduled committee meeting is March 2nd at 7 pm.
Crawford County Now will continue to cover this developing story.