<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0rqh40_0vknlJc500" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0rqh40_0vknlJc500" width="1200" height="628" >The Newport City Council is set to rescind a new minimum use sewer fee after some residents saw their August water bill nearly triple. The new charge, approved by the council in July as part of the annual budget, assessed all meter users consuming less than 4,100 gallons per month an additional flat rate of $19.80 per 1,000 gallons of water used. According to the city, the intent of the new fee was to offset ex­penses for needed system main­tenance on seasonal and “dark homes” that do not meet the monthly use threshold. It was also attempting to target water cus­tomers who own multiple proper­ties, as the new fee assessed a flat rate per water meter.However, the unforeseen con­sequence was that the August utility bill skyrocketed for some residents, many of them seniors on fixed incomes in low-occupied households who are used to low water costs. “As the group that represents us, you should have been able to see what the fallout was going to be,” resident Joanne Cadenazzi told the council. “But you didn’t see it ei­ther, and you’re sitting on top of it.” Aaron Jasper, who lives on Martin Street and owns a business on Halsey Street, said his residen­tial bill increased 15 percent and his business bill shot up nearly 800 percent. Chris Scott, also a Halsey Street business owner, said he uses less than 2,500 gallons a month across three accounts and previously paid $90 total per month under the old structure. Scott said he is now paying $240 per month more. At a Sept. 23 special meeting, the council took the first step to eliminate the new base-use charge, approving the first reading of an ordinance that deletes the language establishing the fee. The council was expected to consider the second reading at its Sept. 25 meeting. The decision followed a Sept. 18 workshop in which residents aired their concerns about increases, the council apologized for the error in judgment and both groups brainstormed potential solutions to raise the roughly $500 million needed to address the city’s aging water and sewer infrastructure after years of deferred mainte­nance. City Manager Colin Kennedy said water customers will receive rebates for the base-use charge that appeared on their August bills. Additionally, the city is holding its September billing until the new ordinance is official, as it requires another reading and vote. But water customers can still expect to see their bills increase in the future. Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong conceded while the base-use fee is not working, “the reality of the landscape is that Newport is facing half a billion dollars in deferred im­provements” and that “the system is under extreme stress.” He said water rates have not increased since 2019, the longest stretch without an uptick since 1980. If nothing is done, a 41 percent rate increase is needed across the board, he said. Newport’s system consists of 97 miles of sewer main, 50 miles of stormwater main, over 1,800 sewer manholes, about 1,200 drain man­holes and over 2,500 catch basins. “This is an incredibly old system, we’re incredibly understaffed and, compounding it all, we have the impact of very severe rainstorms that are tasking the system until it is no longer delivering,” Kham­syvoravong said. “Big investments are needed.” Councilor Mark Aramli called the new fee “a colossal error.” He said the council did not understand the impact of the fee on some cus­tomers. Aramli blamed the city and the Utilities Department, but said, “The buck ultimately stops with the council.” “The theory is still sound,” he said. “We have to get money from these empty houses.” Councilor Charles Holder apolo­gized for not doing more research before approving the budget. Council Vice Chair Lynn Ceglie proposed eliminating the base-use fee and “starting from scratch.” Kennedy characterized the new fee as “an error in judgment” and that the city “swung and missed.” The city has been in the process of hiring consultants to study an overhaul of the water rate struc­ture and draft proposals. The work is expected to be complete around January. Kennedy offered no excuse for the city’s communication around the introduction of the fee, saying that it “should have at least given the public the equation so they could do the math themselves.” “We just had a lot more users who use low volumes of water than we expected,” he said. With the apology, many resi­dents said they were curtailing their comments, with resident TJ Perrotti saying he was “putting away his pitchfork.” Resident Bill Hogan said he did away with two pages of notes critiquing the city and council. Ideas for how to begin anew came from residents, with many saying the city should go out to bond to address its maintenance needs. Others said to gradually in­troduce rate increases, rather than dramatic price changes happening so quickly. Different suggestions included studying sump pump impact and making assessment adjustments, basing water accounts on bed­room counts rather than on indi­vidual properties, and increasing rates on high-flow users like Salve Regina University, some Preserva­tion Society of Newport County mansions, hotels and restaurants. There was a strong desire to tie water rates to the city’s recently established two-tier tax system, which bifurcates the residential property tax category and charges different rates on the basis of year- round occupancy. Utilities director Robert Schultz recommended eliminating the fee and introducing a new “interim step” to address maintenance needs before the rate structure overhaul study is completed. The wastewater system is facing over 100 years of deferred maintenance and every $1 million spent on road and sidewalk construction equates to between $5 and $7 million for pipes, he said. </div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

City Water Bill Concerns Flushed Away at Workshop

The Newport City Council is set to rescind a new minimum use sewer fee after some residents saw their August water bill nearly triple. The new charge, approved by the council in July as part of the annual budget, assessed all meter users consuming less than 4,100 gallons per month an additional flat rate of $19.80 per 1,000 gallons of water used.