Municipal Utility customers could see the first phase of a sewer rate increase in their August bills, after action Monday by the Poplar Bluff City Council.
Base fees for residential customers will go from $7.25 per month to $11.25 per month in phase 1. The cost per 1,000 gallons will go from $2.0002 to $2.50.
A second phase of increases will likely not be seen until mid or late 2020, depending on completion of approximately $20 million in upgrades to sewage treatment facilities.
Council members voted 6-0 to approve the increase schedule, with council member at-large Ron Black absent.
A firm date for the phase 1 increases has not been set because they will occur at bond closing on a low interest loan. The loan will pay for the project over the next 20 years. It comes from the State Revolving Fund operated by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
The city has worked with DNR and Smith & Company Engineers to establish the new rate structure, utility General Manager Bill Bach said Monday afternoon, during a meeting of the MU advisory board.
DNR requires the rate change because it will not allow the department to operate at a loss, Bach said.
The advisory board also recommended making the rate changes.
Phase 2 will occur at substantial completion of the work, anticipated to take a year or more.
At that time, the residential base rate could go to $14.50 per month, with a cost per 1,000 gallons of $3.
The final rate change will be based on the end cost of the project, currently estimated at approximately $20 million, Bach said. Higher or lower costs would impact the phase 2 rate change.
Robertson Contractors of Poplar Bluff was awarded the project with a bid of $18.91 million on the base project and one alternate.
Increases will also be seen for commercial and industrial classes of customers who use from 5,000 to more than 100,000 gallons of water per month, according to information released in 2018.
Base rates per month for the following customers are currently: class 2, $11.14; class 3, $17.39; class 4, $36.18; and class 5, $67.49.
According to city documents, at the final stage of increases these could be: class 2, $25; class 3, $50; class 4, $85; and class 5, $240.
DNR issued Poplar Bluff a new permit March 1, 2015, which set tighter restrictions on the measurements of dissolved oxygen, ammonia and suspended solids in treated wastewater. The standards help determine the effectiveness of the treatment plant.
Poplar Bluff uses a system where wastewater flows through three lagoons over a period of 15-20 days to breakdown the amount of organic material through a biological process, engineers with Smith & Company have said.
Heat assists the process. Floating covers, which would increase the collection of heat, will be added to the lagoons as part of a retrofit of the current system.
Plans also include the addition of a concrete basin after the lagoons as part of a process to reduce the amount of ammonia and nitrogen in the treated waste water. Ultraviolet lamps will be added to the disinfection process, to reduce E. coli.
The project was approved by voters in 2012.