ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Liberal citizens will now officially see some changes to their water bill due to action taken by the Liberal City Commission at its most recent meeting Tuesday evening.
To begin the discussion, the commission heard about Resolution No. 2430 concerning the adoption of a Wastewater Improvement Fee.
“As the commission discussed at the Feb. 25 meeting, the City intends to move forward with the proposal of a $10 flat fee to assist in the revenue needs of the Wastewater Treatment Plant,” Liberal City Manager Scarlette Diseker said. “This fee will be assessed across both residential and commercial accounts and begin April 1. It is estimated this fee will generate an annual revenue of $852,000 and assist the department with additional sewer infrastructure needs, with the main concern being a lack of funds to address any type of catastrophic failures within the dated sewer lines. And as I’ve said multiple times during this process, although the intent will be to keep the fee in place through loan repayment in 2037, it can be discontinued at any time based on the city's current financial situation and passed by a vote by the city commission. Since this fee will be starting next month, it won’t generate that $852,000, it’ll be closer to that $500,000 range. But it will most definitely assist with the revenue situation we have in Fund 520 and cover the next payment we have due. We have a payment due later this month and then a payment due six months from then that I was extremely concerned about in terms of how we were going to meet that, so this will most definitely help with that and move us forward in a healthier environment.”
Ultimately, the commission voted to approve the resolution by a margin of 4-1, with commissioner Janeth Vazquez voting no.
The commission then tackled Resolution No. 2431 concerning the discontinuance of the previous Water System Improvement Fee.
“This is actually the good news of the evening,” Diseker said. “I have gone home many evenings thinking of different ways we could address this situation with the citizens of Liberal in mind in terms of incomes, fixed incomes in some cases. It occurred to me after our last meeting there might be a way to assist the public. Due to the implementation of that $10 flat fee from Resolution No. 2430 to assist with the revenue shortfall in the Wastewater Fund, city staff is recommending the discontinuance of the Water System Improvement Fee of $6.25 for residential customers and $12.50 for non-residential customers. I personally feel the cash balance in the Water Fund is sufficient to cover current and future expenses, as well as the outstanding debt service. It’s sitting at more than $6 million and has been sitting at a pretty healthy balance for a couple years now that we’ve also controlled expenses and budgeted better. We feel that’s enough to service that account, the current expenses and the debt service. It is our goal not to overextend our citizens and keep flat fees in utility funds to a minimum, and this is a way to help change out those fees. Whereas the $6 and $12.50 went to the Water Fund, this $10 flat fee will go to the Wastewater Fund. I’ve already discussed this with the Utilities Department, and it will be a very simple accounting adjustment. Basically, we will change the title of the fee, we will change the account it’s crediting, and will take pressure off of the public and help solve our situation with Wastewater Fund.”
Diseker added some further good news with the resolution.
“Actually, for commercial customers, this will be a bit of a decrease because they were paying $12.50 for that Water Improvement Fee, and now everyone will be paying that flat $10,” Diseker said. “This might be a bit of a teeter-totter back and forth for a while. By the time we pay this loan and move forward, we might need to address water again, so we might have to shift things back over there, but the goal was to not have two fees simultaneously. When I addressed the cash balance and looked through that, and then the year-over-year expenses, I felt comfortable with that – if I wasn’t, I would totally tell you. But I really feel this is a good move for the public, and I feel like it will be a step toward solving a couple problems.”
Ultimately, the commission voted unanimously to adopt the resolution and discontinue the previous fee.
“I think it’s great being able to sunset one of the fees because that’s one of the biggest concerns I know I would ever have when I’m reading my bill, and I know most people are the same way,” Liberal Mayor Jose Lara said. “There are people see all the different fees on the bill and don’t really know what they’re used for or where that money goes. People are promised those fees will eventually go away, but then they don’t, so I really appreciate all the work that went into helping the community.”
Concluding discussion on the water fees was the commission hearing a request for the addition of a waiver for the $10 Wastewater Improvement Fee to the housing programs.
“As you’ll recall, back in January, Keith [Bridenstine] came and did a presentation on all the City of Liberal housing programs and grants that are offered,” Diseker said. “Among those grants is a waiver for anyone who qualifies for that Water System Improvement Fee based on criteria. We want to make sure the customers who already have that waiver are already grandfathered in – and Melissa in Utilities said we could do that – so they will not have to reapply. They will automatically get approved and grandfathered into the $10 Wastewater Improvement Fee waiver. Then, anyone in the future who qualifies based on our criteria, they can also apply through the Housing Department with any of the crew over there. That was a thing with the Water Improvement Fee, we wanted to make sure we extended that with the sewer improvements as well for anyone who’s on a fixed income or needs that type of consideration.”
“I did look through the guidelines, and it says you have to be 60 years old or older, but I was wondering if there was any way we could have a discussion about including veterans and low-income families,” Vazquez said.
“I will look back at all of that, because I know we made some changes to include veterans, and a lot of our housing grants are income-based,” Diseker replied. “But I can go ahead and look at that, and if we need to make a revision, we can most certainly do that with enough time before we started. We wanted to do this a couple meetings in advance, so we had everything worked out before we rolled everything out April 1.”
After some more brief discussion, the commission ultimately unanimously voted to approve the resolution.
In other new business, the commission approved the comprehensive insurance renewal with Iron Insurance partners and a pair of projects for the Information Technology Department. The commission also approved a Memorandum of Agreement with the University of Kansas and the Liberal Fire Department for ARFF training, with the training not to exceed $12,000 (and come out of the airport training budget) and also approved the appointment of Levi Williams to be appointed to a four-year term as a restaurant representative to the Convention and Visitors Bureau Board. The commission also approved the KPERS Supplemental Defined Contribution Plan Adoption Agreement for KPERS 401(a).
