Cassville’s Admin. answers questions about bond issue
March 29, 2017
Charlea Estes
With the General Municipal Election next Tuesday, paril 4, there has been a lot of talk about the City of Cassville’s proposed bond issue for water and sewer projects. City administrator Steve Walensky will be attending the Cassville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Breakfast and Ballot Issues event on Thursday to help educate chamber members on the issue, and why the city proposed the bill.
The bond issue facing Cassville voters is a $10.3 million bond, $4.8 million for the water system and $5.4M for the sewer system to being the city into compliance with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
Since the City Council voted to place the measure on the ballot, there has been a lot of public scrutiny about the issue, asking why more repairs have not been done with the water and sewer rate increases since they began going up in 2011. Walensky answered some of those questions in an interview, hoping to dispel some rumors about the measure.
“The main component is that the city entered into the voluntary compliance agreement on the sewer side with the Department of Natural resources to no longer allow lagoon water to bypass the hydraulic plant. This is the top priority: that we manage the sewer system problem so that we don’t pollute Flat Creek.”
The primary issues with the sewer system are the aging sewer lines. A few years ago, the city pledged some of the funds from the increased sewer rates to purchase a camera system and dedicate two Public Works employees to inspecting the sewer lines and fixing them. In that time, 66 manholes have been fixed and multiple places with broken pipe have been patched, as well.
Walensky outlined an example of what the camera system has allowed them to fix, “We found a large hole in our main line by the creek, and we went in camera-ed that and patched it. It was estimated a 10 million gallon pipe break that we fixed, and it was under Flat Creek. The creek was constantly pouring in.” When the wastewater treatment plant is having to process rain water as sewer, the plant cannot keep up and it creates an unnecessary burden on the city’s resources. It also leads to untreated water going into Flat Creek.
Walensky said, “The basic problem that they had in 2011 was they were trying to address the water and sewer funds that they were not covering the basic operating costs. What happened was that they were taking general revenue dollars to subsidize water and sewer rates. The bills weren’t even operating the system.
“There was initially a plan that was a much larger increase that would be much more aggressive in fixing problems with the water and sewer, but that was cut back. The big repairs were based on a 96 percent increase of rates [in 2011], and instead it was a 50 percent increase. When they initially raised those rates, they didn’t get everything they were asking for, so there wasn’t enough to make those aggressive improvements.”
In short: the city did what they could with the funds available.
Cassville mayor Bill Shiveley added, “When I started, we had no reserves. If we lost a pump or something in a treatment plant, we were scrambling to find money to take care of it and having to take from general funds. We now have a small fund to where if we lose a pump or something, we can replace it.” According to city officials, the rate increases over the last few years aren’t significant enough to a major overhaul of the systems.
Currently, Cassville’s water and sewer rates are comparable to other cities of the same size and median income. While the bond issue would mean an increase in rates for customers, the city representatives don’t believe it would be unreasonable.
Walensky added that he feels the city hasn’t adequately informed residents of all that has been accomplished with the rate increases up to this point. “I feel like we haven’t communicating all that has gone right. With the rates increasing, it really has helped,” he said. “There is a bit of skepticism, and I understand that. But it’s just that we haven’t communicated well, which is part of why I took the role of City Administrator.”
The residents of Cassville will vote on the bond issue on Tuesday, April 4. For exact ballot language, see page 11A.
Charlea Estes
With the General Municipal Election next Tuesday, paril 4, there has been a lot of talk about the City of Cassville’s proposed bond issue for water and sewer projects. City administrator Steve Walensky will be attending the Cassville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Breakfast and Ballot Issues event on Thursday to help educate chamber members on the issue, and why the city proposed the bill.
The bond issue facing Cassville voters is a $10.3 million bond, $4.8 million for the water system and $5.4M for the sewer system to being the city into compliance with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
Since the City Council voted to place the measure on the ballot, there has been a lot of public scrutiny about the issue, asking why more repairs have not been done with the water and sewer rate increases since they began going up in 2011. Walensky answered some of those questions in an interview, hoping to dispel some rumors about the measure.
“The main component is that the city entered into the voluntary compliance agreement on the sewer side with the Department of Natural resources to no longer allow lagoon water to bypass the hydraulic plant. This is the top priority: that we manage the sewer system problem so that we don’t pollute Flat Creek.”
The primary issues with the sewer system are the aging sewer lines. A few years ago, the city pledged some of the funds from the increased sewer rates to purchase a camera system and dedicate two Public Works employees to inspecting the sewer lines and fixing them. In that time, 66 manholes have been fixed and multiple places with broken pipe have been patched, as well.
Walensky outlined an example of what the camera system has allowed them to fix, “We found a large hole in our main line by the creek, and we went in camera-ed that and patched it. It was estimated a 10 million gallon pipe break that we fixed, and it was under Flat Creek. The creek was constantly pouring in.” When the wastewater treatment plant is having to process rain water as sewer, the plant cannot keep up and it creates an unnecessary burden on the city’s resources. It also leads to untreated water going into Flat Creek.
Walensky said, “The basic problem that they had in 2011 was they were trying to address the water and sewer funds that they were not covering the basic operating costs. What happened was that they were taking general revenue dollars to subsidize water and sewer rates. The bills weren’t even operating the system.
“There was initially a plan that was a much larger increase that would be much more aggressive in fixing problems with the water and sewer, but that was cut back. The big repairs were based on a 96 percent increase of rates [in 2011], and instead it was a 50 percent increase. When they initially raised those rates, they didn’t get everything they were asking for, so there wasn’t enough to make those aggressive improvements.”
In short: the city did what they could with the funds available.
Cassville mayor Bill Shiveley added, “When I started, we had no reserves. If we lost a pump or something in a treatment plant, we were scrambling to find money to take care of it and having to take from general funds. We now have a small fund to where if we lose a pump or something, we can replace it.” According to city officials, the rate increases over the last few years aren’t significant enough to a major overhaul of the systems.
Currently, Cassville’s water and sewer rates are comparable to other cities of the same size and median income. While the bond issue would mean an increase in rates for customers, the city representatives don’t believe it would be unreasonable.
Walensky added that he feels the city hasn’t adequately informed residents of all that has been accomplished with the rate increases up to this point. “I feel like we haven’t communicating all that has gone right. With the rates increasing, it really has helped,” he said. “There is a bit of skepticism, and I understand that. But it’s just that we haven’t communicated well, which is part of why I took the role of City Administrator.”
The residents of Cassville will vote on the bond issue on Tuesday, April 4. For exact ballot language, see page 11A.