The city of Eureka Springs has officially been given the green light to increase the water portion of utility bills for residents and businesses by 25 percent.
The city council voted 5-1 to approve the third and final reading of a revised water rate ordinance at its July 24 regular meeting at The Auditorium. Approved ordinances go into effect 30 days after approval on the third reading.
Raising water rates is a necessity because of increased costs the city pays its supplier, Carroll-Boone Water District, city officials have said.
“What we’re asking for in the water rates is that Carroll- Boone [Water District] has raised their water rates twice for us and we have not raised the water rates for the citizens,” city finance director Michael Akins told council members during the June 26 council meeting when the ordinance was introduced. “We’re asking to raise the water rates just on the water, not on sewer or anything else. Just the water that is metered that goes to your house.”
Akins told council members that the city has waited for the proposed increase for a couple of years.
“We absorbed a rate increase in 2022 that we did not pass along and then we had a rate increase in 2023 that we did not pass along,” he said. “We absorbed those costs because we knew everybody was coming off of COVID and we knew that wasn’t the time to raise the rates.
“We were trying to do everything we could for the citizens so waited on raising the rates. … And now we’re trying to just level it out to where these increases are what we have been increased on, what we’re paying for the water.”
Council member Autumn Slane, who voted against the ordinance the previous two readings, again voted against it at the July 24 meeting. Slane has suggested a smaller increase in rates.
Council member Terry McClung continued his support of the rate increase and stressed again the importance of having a detailed plan to address water leaks around the city, which he said are causing an abnormally high amount of wasted water.
“I just want to reiterate … about the water leak remediation plans, I think it’s really important that we make a sincere effort and do something as soon as possible to have a comprehensive plan of some sort to make before the city of what we’re doing,” Mc-Clung said. “I’ve had a lot of calls on this. A bunch of them. More than anything I’ve had in a long, long time.
“The opposition to it is not so much to the increase as it is that they feel like it’s like they’re just having to pay for water that they don’t have or excess water …” Akins told the council at recent meetings that he pulled billing accounts of a residential account, a small restaurant, a large restaurant, a small hotel and a large hotel in the city to see how a 25 percent increase would affect each.
The residential account selected consumes about 2,500 gallons of water a month and the recent bill was $59.26. The increase would raise that bill $4.71, Akins said.
Akins explained that the 25 percent increase on the $505.22 bill of a small restaurant would be $38.59 and a large restaurant bill of $1,062.94 would jump to $1,159.98.
Furthermore, a recent water bill for using 138,287 gallons at a small hotel was $2,393.88 and a 25 percent increase pushes it to $2,630.45. A large hotel in the city recently used 486,834 gallons in a month and had a bill of $7,411.15. The planned increase would make that bill $8,222.77, or an increase of $811.
The increase will apply only to water rates, not to other charges included on the bill, which is why the overall totals will increase by less than 25 percent.
BID FOR LEAK DETECTION Simon Wiley, Eureka Springs’ public works director, told council members that one company has responded to bid requests to help detect the leaks around the city.
McKim & Creed, an engineering company that does leak detection, was the only company that has offered to accept the job for a bid of $30,000. The city’s water system includes 65 miles of water lines, Wiley said, adding that McKim & Creed has done work with the city in the past and is familiar with the terrain.
“The worst part about this is they won’t be able to begin work until October,” Wiley told council members. “They’re just backlogged like everybody else is, so it’s going to take a little time for them to get out here.”
Wiley said the company will use equipment to detect leaks and give the city daily reports on what has been found.
“They find the leaks and then we’re responsible for the repairs,” Wiley said “Hopefully we can fix a lot of that in-house. Our terrain is not very forgiving around here in a lot of areas and we have backhoes. We don’t have excavators that can dig out on the side of a mountain. So, there’s some things that we probably have to contract out, I imagine, but for the most part, I hope my crew is able to fix the leaks.”
The project should take approximately six weeks to two months to complete, Wiley said.
“I think by the end of winter time we’ll have a report back from them on where the leaks are,” he said.
McKim & Creed has done similar projects around Northwest Arkansas, including in Holiday Island and Prairie Grove, Wiley said.
“The last time they did this they marked the biggest leaks that they found and city public works went and worked those first, which made a heck of a difference,” council member Harry Meyer said.
Wiley added: “If they find something substantial in size, they’re going to let us know right away. So, we’ll be able to get our crew out there immediately to fix that as we’re notified of it. My intention is really to try to keep up with them as they find the leaks and go through and fix those leaks.”
McClung felt the city was getting a good price for the project.
“If we’ve got 65 miles of water lines and it’s $30,000, that’s just slightly over $460 a mile,” McClung said. “That’s pretty darn cheap, if effective.”
