A standing-room only crowd packed the Lewis Fire Station’s conference room Wednesday night for Lewis City Council Public Forum/Question and Answer session pertaining to utility rates. Lewis Mayor Jon Mosier started the 6:30-p.m. meeting that lasted for about 50-minutes, prior to the start of the regular Council meeting. Mosier said a group of citizens had approached him last week with regard to a large increase in the City’s water billing based on a new rate schedule. Mosier said the number one question dealt with a perceived discrepancy between the information that was sent to the citizens and what was actually billed.

Mosier said the only thing that changed was the access fee, which he said dropped from $36 to $17.27, and then up to 23-cents to $17.50. With regard to how the City arrived at the adjusted rates, Mosier turned that over to Perry Gjersvik, Professional Engineer with Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc., of Johnston, the firm hired to study the water and sewer system in Lewis.

He said “The City, very early on mentioned to him that the existing sewer and water rates were not generating adequate revenue to cover the expenses, so they asked us to do a water and sewer rate study to come up with the rates that would be necessary or needed to generate revenue to meet the expenses for the water and sewer system. He said they took a look at the past couple of years of expenses and revenue [and] noted that in the water system in 2016, the water system had been losing about $30,000.”  In 2017 loss jumped to $43,000. On the sewer side, Gjersvik said the loss was about $10,000 in 2016 and $3,000 in 2017. He said it was clear there was not enough revenue to meet expenses. He said they crunched the numbers and scenarios and projected out to 2018, and based expenses based on FY 2017-18. The deficit in water revenue was projected to be $48,000 and the sewer $6,200 more. Information about the amount the City owes on its SRF are available here: scan0127

The new rates, he said, were based on an average customer water usage of 3,000 gallons per month. That equates to an increase of about 36-percent on the water and seven-percent on the sewer rates. Some people in attendance questioned why the rates were not pro-rated, to which Mosier responded “We have never pro-rated anything since the 3-percent (original fee) went into effect” in 2011. He said that’s something the Council could explore. When some complained they were not notified the 3-percent increase had gone away in favor of the new rate structure, the Mayor said if people had come to the meetings they would have known that there is no more 3-percent increase.

Nancy Gerica-Joens, spoke on behalf of the “Concerned Citizens of Lewis.” She said the rate increases — which for some families has jumped from $136 to as much as $300 per month — will have “A ripple effect” on the community to where some people will have to choose between paying their water bill, getting it shut-off, or buying food. Others said they knew of people who would be moving out if the rates continue, because they can no longer afford to live in Lewis.

During the Council’s regular session, it was decided more information was needed on the rate adjustment and other pertinent data. Perry Gjersvik will appear before the Council during a Special Session August 21st at 7-p.m., in the Fire Hall meeting room. Their next regular meeting will be September 5th.