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Raising Cane About Sewer Rates |
Glenn Walsh | 9/5/08
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The Town of Pagosa Springs raised basic sewer rates for residential customers by 67% this quarter. And one older gentleman in Pagosa Springs raised cane about the increase, and then struck the Mayor with his cane.
After a few minutes of inconclusive discussion about how these increases were affecting local residents at last week’s Town Council meeting, Mayor Ross Aragon reported that the comments he is getting are quite striking.
 “There is a lot of concern and controversy regarding the increase, especially people on fixed incomes. It was so bad that somebody hit me with a cane. And that is the honest to God truth. It is serious and I would recommend that we do make it easier for people to pay on a monthly basis.”
Aragon reported the caning with sheepish good humor, but with a clear sense that Town residents are angered about the new rates. And these new rates may not stay new for long, as construction costs increase and economic growth stalls.
This quarter’s price increase was mandated by the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority (CWRPDA). The CWRPDA has made the increase in monthly rates a requirement for the $2 million loan it has offered the Town for the construction of a new wastewater facility on the site of the Town’s aging treatment lagoons. The Town also hiked the plant investment fees it charges for new hook-ups into the aging system from $3750 to $4400, an increase of 17%.
Last year's growth rate was budgeted to be six percent, but growth in the Town slowed to a stop: only six new hook-ups total, or 0.4 percent. Until growth restarts, monthly bill payers will start paying more and more to rebuild the Town’s sewer system.
Yet, many of the monthly bill payers in the Town are on low, fixed incomes. Others have had their incomes fixed by the lack of economic growth. Some have asked if the Town could begin billing monthly rather than quarterly.
Interim Town Manager Tamra Allen related the “sense” from the “informal polling” done by staff that billing was less of an issue than the sudden onset of the new fees. The increase in fees was actually retroactive by two weeks.
Allen added that the costs of switching to monthly billing would be about $200 per month, which she characterized as “fairly substantial.” These billing costs, of course, are dwarfed by the cost of constructing the wastewater facility itself. The new construction estimate of $5.3 million was made before a recent run-up in steel prices of 195% reported by Town Construction Manager Torry Hessman.
How high might monthly fees go should the cost of the new facility rise to $7 million or $8 million dollars and few new hook-up fees be collected over the next few years? The question was not asked.
Councilor Stan Holt asked a more commonsense question about the immediate problem. “If somebody wanted to come and pay by the month, can we accept it?”
There was quick agreement that payment could be accepted on a monthly basis, though the discussion involved the exchange of phrases such as “a little bit now, and little bit later” and “pay fractions of that bill and then further increments at a later point” which indicate a difference in the way different generations talk about the same thing.
At this point, Councilor Jerry Jackson noted that his project — enforcement of the Town’s nuisance ordinance — involved the “same sensitivity” towards longtime residents of the Town. Jackson reported on his meeting with Municipal Judge William Anderson. “Judge Anderson feels our objective is to get the Town cleaned up not so much to fine people, so he will work as diligent as possible to get that clean up carried out with the people who are in violation prior to making the final $1000 fine or jail time decision.”
It is interesting to note that while legislators often complain that judges legislate from the bench, they find judges indispensable in enforcing difficult codes with tact and effectiveness.
Jackson and Dickhoff appear to be approaching the potential time-bomb enforcement with care. They have enlisted church and volunteer groups to help and won the support of the County to remove landfill fees for the poor. Readers should note there is very tentative approval of “pro-growth” policies in old-town Pagosa, and while a rising tide might lift all boats, there is probably less that it can do about "four boats in the yard" than those with upper-middle class east and west coast sensibilities might desire.
In the end, the decision was to continue billing on a quarterly basis, but to include information in the bill about the option to pay monthly.
Aragon ended the discussion with a poignant follow-up. “The gentleman — and I still call him a gentleman — after he hit me with the cane, I told him ‘I deserve that.’” Aragon looked at his fellow Board members. “I didn’t tell him that there are six other people involved.”
Of course, on many of these issues, there simply are not six other people involved. Aragon comes in for some criticism for being too dominant a figure in Town politics. But no one is identified more closely with what goes right and wrong in Pagosa Springs than Aragon. And no one feels the heat, or in this case the cane, more.
Especially when the heat is coming from older, longtime residents in South Pagosa whose lives are being challenged by the pressures and costs of people who may or may not choose to bring their lifestyles here. |
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