[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish Council nearly doubles residents' water and sewer rates

[Westley Annis]

pretty sad that they can do this without a vote of the people


Wanda O. Guidry


> -----------------------------------------------------
> St. Bernard Parish Council nearly doubles residents' water and sewer 
> rates Print Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By 
> Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune Email the 
> author | Follow on Twitter on January 06, 2015 at 8:50 PM, updated 
> January 06, 2015 at 9:44 PM
> 
> The St. Bernard Parish Council on Tuesday night (Jan. 6) approved an 
> ordinance amendment that nearly doubled resident's water and sewer 
> rates, and tripled them for some commercial users, in an effort to 
> improve water quality in a parish about a year after a brain-eating 
> amoeba was found in its water system.
> 
> The parish's water and sewerage rates had not changed since 1997. 
> Under the increases, the average residence in St. Bernard, which uses 
> about 8,000 gallons of water per month, will see its water rate jump 
> from about $13 a month to $24 a month.
> 
> Residential sewer rates are calculated as 90 percent of water usage, 
> meaning the average resident uses about 7,200 gallons a month. The 
> average sewer rate therefore now will increase from about $15 a month to
$36 a month.
> 
> The parish will use the rate increases to pay acquire and pay interest 
> on two state loans needed for capital improvements -- $21 million for 
> water pipes and $10 million for sewer lines. Parish officials have 
> said that the parish could only qualify for those loans with the rate
increases.
> 
> The council first introduced the ordinance on the increased rates on Nov.
5.
> The council then tabled its vote on the matter three times. The 
> council had been discussing the increases since the beginning of 2014.
> 
> And perhaps because the increases had been discussed frequently over 
> the past year, only one resident spoke Tuesday night during the public 
> hearing before the council's final vote on them.
> 
> Neisha Encalade, 45, of Violet, said she was against the rate increase 
> because she felt the council instead "should put it on the ballot for 
> the public to vote on it."
> 
> "I think you need to put it to a vote of the people," she said.
> 
> The Tuesday council meeting was held in the Old Beauregard Courthouse 
> in eastern St. Bernard, a new tradition for the first council meeting 
> of the year. A couple more residents had spoken during a town hall on 
> the proposed increases in the Council Chambers in Chalmette on Monday.
> 
> Those residents Monday mainly complained of the increased 
> post-Hurricane Katrina tax burden but they said they understood that 
> their smaller population must shoulder more.
> 
> "Property taxes just went up. Then something like this hits us," 
> Vincent Forte, 64, of Chalmette, said at the Monday meeting "It's 
> really hard to keep up with everything going on.
> 
> "...But it's true that the parish does need help."
> 
> State Department of Health and Hospitals engineer John Williams wrote 
> a letter last month to the Parish Council supporting the proposed rate 
> increase rates, in part saying the occasional red and muddy water in 
> old Arabi is caused by the "older unlined cast iron pipes."
> 
> He said the corrosion of those pipes can diminish chlorine levels and 
> increase "bacteriological growth through the development of biofilms, 
> or cells that stick together and coat the pipes giving the 
> brian-eating amoeba a place to live."
> 
> The brain eating amoeba found in St. Bernard's water system in 2013 
> led to the death of a 4-year-old boy who had been playing with a water 
> slide. And while in February federal testing of the water system 
> declared the parish system clear of the amoeba, his death prompted a 
> renewed emphasis on needed repairs and upgrades -- and on finding money to
pay for them.
> 
> Drake Smith Jr.'s death was not discussed by the council on Tuesday. 
> But, some on the council did talk about the troubles following Katrina 
> -- how the storm had driven away residents and caused fewer users, 
> meaning there are now too few people to regularly flush needed chlorine
through it.
> 
> The future infrastructure repairs, councilmen said, would help that 
> chlorine better circulate despite the parish's still shrunken 
> post-Katrina population.
> 
> The increased rates also would go toward hiring about 18 to 20 
> additional employees for the water and sewer department, Councilman Ray
Lauga has said.
> There currently are about 55 employees in the department, down from 
> 105 employees before Katrina.
> 
> Below, see a graphic explanation of the rate increases:
> 
> Proposed St. Bernard water & sewer rate changes Current Proposed Water 
> rate per thousand gallons $1.65 $2.98 Sewer rate per thousand gallons 
> $2.03 $4.94 Average residential water bill per month $13.20 $23.84 
> Average residential sewer bill per month $14.62 $35.57 Total average 
> residential water & sewer bill $27.82 $59.41 *Based on residential 
> average of 8,000 gallons a month See a PowerPoint slideshow that goes 
> into more details on the rates:
> http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/01/st_bernard_parish_counc
> il_rai
> s.html