Kingsland Approves Rate Increases

RISON - Kingsland residents will be seeing an increase in their water and sewer bills soon after the Kingsland City Council voted last week to implement the rate changes for both services as recommended by a recent rate study. "We really can't wait," Kingsland Mayor Sharon Crosby said about the rate increases. "We're in bad shape (financially)." The November regular monthly meeting of the Kingsland City Council was moved to last Thursday, Nov. 16, since the regular meeting date, the fourth Thursday of the month, was the same day as the Thanksgiving holiday. Trey Foster with Civil Engineering Associates of Conway revealed to the city council during its October meeting what the rates should be based his analysis of the revenue and expenses for both the water and wastewater systems to put the city in compliance with Act 605 of 2021. That new state law requires all public water providers to conduct a water and wastewater rate study to not only cover the cost of operating the systems, but also also provide enough revenue to fund a 5 percent reserve to help pay for repair or replacement of the system in the future. Act 605 requires the water provider to implement the rates from the study or face the possibility of the state taking over the system. The rates determined by the study would increase the base rate for water from $17 to $34 per month, and increase the cost for each 1,000 gallons of water used from $4 to $8. For wastewater, the base rate would increase from $17 to $50, and the cost for every 1,000 gallons of wastewater would increase from $3 to $7. Crosby said one major factor in the steep price hike is that the city has not been consistently raising its rates to keep pace with rising expenses. The last time Kingsland had a water rate increase was 2018, and that increase was just to cover the cost for refurbishing the city water tank. The last sewer rate increase was in 2008. Foster told the city council last month that...