The Gosnell City Council is considering raising sewer rates by $4 a month to cover shortfalls in the Sewer Fund and pay for upgrades to the wastewater system.
Through July, year-to-date, the Sewer Fund is in the red $51,897, with $97,953 in revenues versus $149,850 in expenses. Gosnell is facing another significant expense with the recent sewer collapse on Moody Street.
The city’s General Fund budget has a deficit of $60,576 through July; $763,722 in revenues versus $824,299 in expenses.
Gosnell Mayor Teresa Walker proposed the rate hike during Thursday night’s Gosnell City Council meeting, noting the city has one of the lowest sewer fees in the area and has not raised rates since 2014.
She pointed out Leachville’s rate is $15.25 per month, Manila’s is $12. Gosnell residents currently pay $11.25 per month for the first 2,000 gallons.
The plan calls for a $4 increase on the first 2,000 gallons and an additional $1 per every other 1,000 gallons.
Because Gosnell has 1,100 water meters, the proposal would generate about $4,400 a month for the cash-strapped town.
“We’re not raising them just to raise them,” Councilman David Blount said. “We’re in need of the income because our infrastructure is starting to fail.”
Walker said the city will have to move money from the General Fund to the Sewer Fund to cover payroll for the remainder of 2019.
She added an engineer will perform a study on the cost to redo the entire sewer system, and the city could use bonds to pay for it.
Councilman Steve Nelson pointed out that the city has difficulty getting grants, qualifying for few of them.
“None of us wants to raise the rates $4 because people are on fixed incomes, but if we don’t qualify for that (grants), we have to do something because our city’s sewage system is going downhill quick,” Nelson said. “We’ve got to do something.”
City attorney Chris Brown will prepare an ordinance for the council’s consideration in the September meeting.
Blount said the council has no choice but to raise rates because of the city’s financial position.
Councilman James Haynes asked Walker what other measures are being taken to improve the numbers.
Walker said she has begun requiring departments to submit purchase orders, which has helped.
“That has slowed it down because they are having to come up here,” Walker said. “I’m playing 20 questions, ‘why do you need this? What is this for?’ If it’s not important, they’re not getting it.”
She added there have been some unexpected expenditures, especially in the sewer department, including two failing motors and a pump house repair. The mayor also does not plan to replace a city mechanic that is leaving.
Councilman Jason Taylor asked if the sewer department head, Donnie McGhee, has a plan to address the budget woes.
“What’s his solution? I’m a solutions kind of guy, and he’s a department head,” Taylor said. “What’s he offering? Obviously, he should know there’s a problem, so what’s his solution.”
“His solution, I don’t think he really has a solution,” Walker responded. “But I’m harping on it.”
Council members said it is critical that city crews operate as efficiently as possible.
“One thing our workers are going to have to understand is perception,” Nelson said. “When we are having to raise sewer rates, we’re having to cut cost, and you’re out riding in a truck all day long. And I see it. I’m out riding my bicycle all over this community and I see it. To stop off at Sonic and pick up a burrito and a drink in a city vehicle does not send — maybe he was busy that morning — but it sends a bad signal. We’re wasting our money; he’s sitting there with it idling. We’re just going to have to be careful. The perception is big, and if we’re raising rates $4 and people are saying, you know these city workers are sitting at Sonic with their vehicles running, we have to be careful. Because if we don’t and we continue to do this, we are going to have to look at cutting employees. That’s just the fact. If we’re going to do that and the money is dwindling, we’re going to have to start cutting.”
He said when there is free time, employees can mow instead of the city contracting out the work.
“I see two or three guys riding around in a city truck picking up sticks all the time,” Taylor said. “Why do you need two or three guys to pick up five sticks off the side of the road? That’s insane. If that guy is making $10 an hour, there’s $30 an hour to pick up five sticks. They are just riding around all day long.”
Nelson said on a tight budget, they can’t afford to do that.
“That should be falling back on our department head,” Blount said. “If he’s not controlling that, maybe we need to find someone that does control it a little bit better. But that’s been, what he’s saying right there, that’s been a problem for a long time. But we’re tight. I think we should all, maybe next meeting all sit around maybe, watch and really see what we each think could benefit the city to save money in some way. And I hate to say it’s personnel, but if we have that going on, I mean.”
Taylor added, “It’s either a system problem, a personnel problem or it’s both.”
Brown said council members could require the department heads to report to their respective committees as the city of Blytheville does.
Nelson suggested considering consolidating positions, perhaps making the sewer department supervisor and shop department head one position instead of two, then having a lead person in sewer and shop.
“We’re paying two department heads,” Nelson said. “We can’t really afford that. I’m not saying this is what we need to do, but it is something we need to look at because right now we are trying to make it to the end of the year.”
Council members also discussed buying a time clock so city workers would have to clock in and out and do so with safeguards preventing them from clocking in each other.
“I’ve had people report to me that they’ve seen people at home, hanging around the house and all of that stuff during work days and we can’t have that,” Nelson said.
“Nobody is talking about the trash route,” Blount added. “We’ve got three guys on trash and sometimes they’re done at noon. What are they doing the rest of the day?”
Taylor said they need a strong leader as a department head to say employees need to find something to do.
“Or if that’s just their job, if they’re just running the trash route, say, ‘hey, appreciate the work today, see you tomorrow,’” Blount said. “That’s been told to me plenty of times. We don’t have any work, see you tomorrow.”
Walker said everyone is cross-trained.
Blount said the council needs to look towards next year, noting they will be over-budget this year.
“If we can start putting some of this stuff in place this year, we’ll have a better start next year,” he said.
Also Thursday night, the council approved the city handbook.
Walker also reported that Jowers General Contracting will be performing sewer work on Moody beginning Monday, though she does not have an estimated cost yet.
Walker also reported that St. Bernards Mobile Mammography unit will be at the Gosnell Community Center from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 7.