Bude looks at raising its sewer, water rates

Water and sewer customer rates in Bude could soon be on the increase as the municipality seeks to improve its bottom line for utility services.

During the Bude Board of Aldermen business meeting held on Tuesday, Feb. 1, board attorney Mary Kathryn Williamson said she and Town Clerk Kim Vaughn are looking at existing water and sewer revenues versus expenditures — with an eye toward possibly having some rate increase recommendations for action by aldermen in the very near future.

“You’re going to have to go up and especially on sewer,” Williamson said. “In most places, the cost of sewer is equal to that of water and Bude’s rate is about half. That means you will, at the least, have to look at sewer rates, but we’ll also have to look at water, too.”

Williamson said she and officials will be studying rate structures from comparable-sized Mississippi towns to gauge what those jurisdictions are collecting for water and sewer services before cobbling together any recommendations.

The need for higher rates has been evident on the town’s balance sheets for the past couple of years, based on numbers provided by Bernell McGehee, a certified public accountant who reports on Bude’s financial status annually.

During fiscal year 2021, which ran from Oct. 1, 2020 through Sept. 30, 2021, McGehee reported the town generated $279,115 in water and sewer revenues, but had $326,687 in operational expenses — leading to a shortfall of $47,572.

In FY 2020, McGehee’s findings showed Bude had collected $257,170 in water and sewer revenues while spending $291,230, which led another shortfall of $34,060.

From an operational and financial practices standpoint, it is generally frowned upon for municipal water and sewer systems in Mississippi to operate in the red for any length of time — especially two years.

Part of the effort by the town to address water revenue has been the installation of digital water meters to obtain more accurate counts of potable water sold to each customer on a monthly basis, but a focus has been on the cost of sewer handling services and a need for more revenue from this side of Bude’s utility services.

Also on the utilities front, resident John Roe approached the board on an adjustment request related to the monthly fees he has been charged for municipal sewer service, but is, in reality, connected to his own septic tank and not on the town’s wastewater system.

Williamson recommended any action be tabled on the matter until she had time to research the town’s existing ordinances regarding established policies related to sewer connection fee structures for those living with the municipality’s corporate limits.

She also wanted to know if the town actually has sewer lines in proximity to Roe and his neighbors and how that might impact his request for a fee adjustment.

“We need to look it up to see the basis for the charge Mr. Roe has brought to our attention,” Williamson said.

In other action during the Feb. 1 business meeting, the Bude Board of Aldermen:

• Gave permission to Franklin Telephone Co., to install underground fiber optic telecommunications infrastructure across municipal rights of way to connect with American Industrial Transport – also known as AITX.

• Discussed at length pay requests from Greenbriar Drilling Service in the amounts of $31,065 and $16,340 for work related to the installation of digital water meters for the town’s potable water distribution system.

The town is presently holding $11,609.05 as retainage until the contractor satisfactorily completes the meter installation process.

In discussing the proposed payment, aldermen asked if those installed meters which had not been working properly for several months had been addressed by the contractor.

Brock White, P.E., representing the town’s engineering firm of record — Dungan Engineering — responded a representative of the meter manufacturer was slated to be in Bude on Wednesday, Feb. 5 to address any issues – ranging from adding new customers to the computer-based system to trying to determine why some meter units were not reading properly.

Aldermen also questioned whether outstanding issues with digital meters at Franklin County Lower and Upper Elementary Schools and Franklin Ready Mix had been addressed, but were told that would also be looked at during Wednesday’s visit by the meter provider representative.

“This will hopefully be the prime time to get the things that have been on your plate, specifically improper or no readings, for months addressed,” White told the panel.

“Any meters that look to be wrong will need to be dealt with then.”

Aldermen also questioned when the warranty on the town’s new water meters would start, and White said that would not begin until Greenbriar’s construction phase has been closed out and accepted by town leaders.

“Your warranty hasn’t started yet,” White continued.

Town leaders ultimately voted to approve the pay requests to Greenbriar.

• In a related matter, the panel voted to approve four requested adjustments for January related to overbilling of municipal water customers.

• Heard a report from Vanessa Walker, who serves as president of the Midway Cemetery Association, regarding the group’s work and finances during the past year.

Walker’s reported included how much was taken in for cemetery lots as well as community gifts and contributions to support the long-term upkeep of the site located on Highway 184 between Bude and Meadville.

“In addition, we do have fund-raisers and receive donations throughout the year that support the fund used to pay for things like cutting grass and trees plus other tasks to maintain the cemetery,” Walker noted.

• Discussed municipal leaders’ planned attendance for the Mississippi Municipal League Convention to be held in late June and for Vaughn to attend a town clerk’s spring conference planned for April 27-29.

The Bude Board of Aldermen will hold its next monthly business meeting at 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 1 at town hall on Railroad Avenue. The session is open to the public.