by RICHARD KERNS
Tribune Staff Writer
KEYSER — After years of planning and months of wrangling, the Keyser City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a 30-percent water rate hike that will provide necessary local funding for a two phase, $12 million water system improvement project.
The vote may result in a protest to the West Virginia Public Service Commission by the New Creek Water Association — which receives its water from Keyser and is subject to the same rate hike. However, officials said Wednesday that the PSC provides for a relatively quick four-month review process that could still allow the project to move to the bidding stage by next fall, with construction starting in early 2012.
Addressing concerns raised about a second rate hike that would be needed under phase two of the project, city officials noted that such an increase would not take effect until the project is complete, in about four years.
Wednesday's meeting featured a packed crowd in City Hall, but rather than Keyser residents protesting the increase, the bulk of those in attendance were residents of the Hollywood Road Addition, where four dozen homes are served by poor wells. They would receive public water under phase one of the water system project, at an estimated cost of about $650,000.
Hollywood Road resident Nellie McCloud produced a petition with 34 signatures, supporting the project and the rate hike. She said residents are desperate for safe, reliable water, and would gladly pay the monthly fee assessed to Keyser residents, as well as individual tap fees of $425.
“Some of the wells are already dry...,” she said. “We need water.”
Keyser Mayor William “Sonny” Rhodes, who has long championed both the larger project and the extension of water to Hollywod Road, thanked the residents for attending the meeting. Following the vote, he also thanked the Council, which as recently as last month had balked at supporting the project.
A subsequent public informational meeting by engineers, accountants and others who had designed the project helped convince the Council of the need for the work.
“It took us a while, but I think you got it right,” Rhodes said.
The meeting also drew opponents of both the project and the attendant rate increase, including Keyser resident David Harman, who — while acknowledging the plight of the Hollywood Road residents — continued to question the rate hike. He said elderly residents will have trouble absorbing the higher costs. “I still think 30 percent is a high rate,” he said.
New Creek Water Association officials attended the meeting, but offered no specific objections, other than to note the impending follow-up rate hike as the project nears completion. Following the meeting, Bob Amtower indicated that the association has yet to formally decide whether to appeal the rate hike to the PSC.
“That's a decision for the board to make,” he said. “We've been waiting for the vote.”
As he did at the informational meeting, Ken Dyche of the Region 8 Development Council briefly laid out the case for the project, addressing his comments to the Council members who would decide its fate.
Noting the concerns over the Hollywood Road extension, he said that if the Council were to eliminate that aspect of the project, the Rural Utilities Service — the federal agency providing much of the funding for the project — would simply take that $650,000 off the top of a $3.1 million grant that is to be provided for the phase two work. Looking at it in that light, he said, Keyser water system customers are not paying for the Hollywood Road work, rather “the federal government is.”
“You take elements out, and they will reduce the grant,” he said.
A Keyser resident who spoke against the rate hike, however, questioned comments made in previous meetings, where officials indicated that Hollywood Road residents themselves would effectively fund the work through fees they would pay as new customers. Citing calculations based on average usage and current water rates, he said it would take up to 59 years for those residents to contribute $650,000 in fees.
In addition to local funding provided through the rate hike, phase one work involves low-interest government-backed loans. The grant is not provided until phase two, which involves the replacement of the city's 85-year-old water treatment plant. A $500,000 upgrade in the mid-90s, he said, was a “band aid” designed to hold the plant together until a full replacement could be pursued.
Dyche said that little-discussed aspect of the project is critical. “The bulk of the project is dedicated to replacing a water treatment plant that is in a state of failure,” he said. “That's the only way to describe it.”
Dyche also noted that the project has been reviewed by both state and federal agencies not only for financing, but for need and design, to determine whether it is “efficient and effective.” He said the project has passed every such review.
Noting that water system problems never resolve themselves, Dyche said the issues addressed by the project will only worsen over time. If the city delays, he said, the project would cost more and the city would likely receive less federal and state support, given the current political environment.
“I urge you to carry forward with this because the alternative is worse,” he said.
While New Creek has yet to formally decide its next step, Rhodes seemed resigned to an appeal to the PSC, but was clearly relieved that the project had finally cleared the Council.
“We'll send it on to the PSC and the PSC will decide the water rate for the city of Keyser,” he said.
