By Martin Couch
"We need new minds added to it and just work it out," Bryant Alderman Steven Gladden said during the last Bryant City Council meeting when discussions were underway prior to the approval[more] of a nine percent increase in city water and waster water taxes.
"I like it better than 16 percent," Alderman Chris Tipton said.The original 2008 ordinance that was to fund the annual water and waste water taxes was at a 16 percent increase set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2011.
Tipton proposed that the city catch up from last year by adding an additional six percent to the already imposed three percent to total nine percent.
"We only went up three last year and we should have gone up nine," Tipton said.
It would bring to the city an annual gross of $200,000 on water and $432,000 on wastewater, which is an average of 95 cents per gallon. Five to 10 thousand gallons of water are used by the average Bryant resident in a month.
The nine percent would be about a $5 to $10 increase in both water and sewer bills.
The discussion among the members of the Council turned to making a motion to adopt the proper ordinance to pass the nine percent increase.
"Basically, that was what was done in the 2009 ordinance, rates were changed to increase by three percent in 2010 and bumped the increase to 2011," City finance director Gary Hollis said. "This ordinance takes the rates existing right now, plus nine percent and makes them effective in 2011, and those for 2011 be bumped to 2012."
The increase in rates in 2012 would be seven percent.
"The 2011 water/waste water rates would the 2010 current rates, but increase in nine percent over 2010 rates and to go into effect in 2011 and tacked on in 2012 we'd revert back to what the 2011 rates should be," Mayor Larry Mitchell reiterated.
The current rate increases to nine percent in January.
