Danville City Council members have approved a hike in sanitary and storm water sewer fees, but the increase is being delayed for a year. Originally the proposal called for hiking the rate on April 1st of next year but several city council members expressed concerns about raising the fee during the pandemic.
It was Alderman Steve Foster who suggested delaying the increase for a year….
{‘’My thinking is this may be our one chance to at least vote it in so that we know what we’re going to be doing. We have a date certain on when we’re going to start collecting,’’ said Foster. ‘’And that will address to a great degree the major concern I heard from people was not the sewer. No one disagreed that it should not be done – it was the hardships on some people and the businesses that were closed and may not be open.’’}
Alderwoman Sherry Pickering noted the sewer problems have been brought up for years…
{‘’Do we want to be known as the council that has kicked it down the road? Do we want to be known as that administration that did this? I think we really need to get this done,’’ said Pickering. ‘’I know there’s people out there that can’t afford it. I know there’s people out there who just don’t want to raise it. But I know there’s a lot of people out there that will have sewer problems in the future. And the sooner we get started on this the less people that’s going to have that problem.’’}
Alderman Dan Duncheon said he would love to have sewers fixed, but he does not think there has been enough research on how to pay for it.
Mayor Rickey Williams warned the city has 10 sewer pump stations that are expected to fail within 5 years. And the Mayor added he knows people will make a sacrifice if they know it’s for a good cause.
The Residential Single Family monthly fee will be $29.75. Residential Multi-Units will pay $17.00 (per unit) per month under the new fee schedule. Commercial, Institutional/Governmental and Industrial users will pay a minimum of $42.50 per month. But in addition non-residential entities will pay a surcharge of $5.68 per 1,000 gallons of water usage over 7,480 gallons (10CCF) per month. Additionally, there would be a $1 annual increase in the monthly rate for single-family dwellings each year for four years. And other user rates would be adjusted accordingly.
Alderwoman Sharon McMahon and city council members Aaron Troglia, Dan Duncheon and Rick Strebing voted against the fee hike.
