Water, sewer rate increases set

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, December 10, 2002

A budget, a water tower, a pork-processing plant, and increased utility rates all got the go-ahead at Monday night’s city council meeting.

Of most immediate impact, the city passed sewer and water rate increases &045; both by 20 percent &045; for 2003.

Jon Hibbard, who runs Albert Lea Electro Plating Inc., was worried about the raises in sewer rates for his company.

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Hibbard researched both water and sewer rates with towns with similar industries, such as Austin, Luverne, Owatonna and Wells.

He found that Albert Lea’s rates were lower or equal to each of these towns in both sewage and water rates.

The council did pass the increase in rates, but City Manager Paul Sparks said the city, in comparison to others in Minnesota and the midwest, is still one of the lowest in the region for rates in both.

The increase is necessary because Farmland, which was the city’s largest utiilty customer, is out of commission after a 2001 fire. The city’s utility fund is short on cash because of the lost customer and the city must make up the difference by raising rates, officials said.

The city will also change its billing schedule for next year, going from quarterly to monthly billing.

Other council notes:

– The city council passed its budget, fee structure and tax levy for 2003.

The tax levy is set to the state-imposed limit, which is $1,607,310. That is a 16.9 percent increase from 2002’s $1,375,000 levy. The fee structure had some minor changes in costs for using certain city-owned properties as well as public goods, from use of the city arena down to the fines on certain library items.

The $17,709,805 2003 budget was passed, but the test for the budget awaits, according to Sparks, as the state has yet to pass its budget, which funds more than half of the city’s budget. The budget as it sits now is up from $17,043,051, a difference of $666,754 from this year, an increase of 3.9 percent.

The state is expected to pass a budget in late spring.

– The council accepted the lowest bid for a water tower to be built on Southeast Marshall Avenue, near Home Depot.

The council accepted a bid of $652,300 from Maguire Iron, Inc. of Sioux Falls, S.D.

The project should be finished by summer 2004. While the city could have accepted another bid that would have finished the project in 2003, it saved almost $75,000 in prolonging the project a little.

Sparks said that with a tight state budget to come, it was best to put off the project and save the money.

– The city passed a preliminary proposal for Quality Pork Processors Inc. (QPP) of Austin.

QPP is looking to build a pork processing plant which would eventually employ 100 to 200. Clear Lake, Iowa, Albert Lea and their current home, Austin, are the three towns they have said they are considering.

The city would offer the company a site in the Northaire Industrial Park, between Minnesota Corrugated Box and Mrs. Gerry’s Kitchen. Tax-increment financing will most likely be used by the city to pay Greater Jobs, Inc. for the land. The Port Authority, a branch of the city government, may use a bond to construct a building which they would lease out to QPP over a long-term period.

The company processes pork products exclusively for Austin-based Hormel.

– Interest that the city has allocated from trust and pension funds may be used by the city to heighten security and beautify the downtown.

The city council will have a public hearing at their Dec. 23 meeting to get public input on using accumulated interest from trust money for four different projects.

New storm sirens, a new &uot;jaws of life,&uot; and new security systems at all the city’s waterplants are among public-safety projects the council is considering. Councilman Dave McPherson said the security systems will act to shut off the plants from the city if the buildings or water is tampered with, reducing the risk of terrorism.

The rest of those funds, approximately $330,000, would go toward undetermined downtown redevelopment projects.