City of Clayton “Forced” to Raise Water Rates
In a special called meeting yesterday, the Clayton City Council made the decision to raise water rates for those who are customers of the Clayton water system. Councilman Jordan Green was in support of the increase and made the motion…
“We increase the water rate to reflect the new water price that the Water and Sewer Authority sent to us, however, we keep paying the bill(to the Water and Sewer Authority) as if it were going with the original contract at $210(per 1000 gallons). The excess money that we collect shall be placed in a special reserve account that’s drafted, until such time that we deem the Water and Sewer Authority bill is correct.”
The motion then passed by a 3-2 vote, with council members Chisholm and Fortson against the increase.The increase to water users is twice per 1000 gallons the increase the City saw from the Water and Sewer Authority, Mayor John Bradshaw explained why…
“And another thing that we have to consider is that if they go up 23 cents, it’s actually 46 cents, because we’re gonna lose half of it, that we’re not even going to get paid back on. So it’s going to cost us 46 cents for them to raise it 23 cents.”
According to the Mayor, blame is to be put on the Water and Sewer Authority…
“And again, it’s very important, the city does not want to raise any rates, we was forced to raise a rate, forced (other members of council heard laughing), forced to raise rates.”
Check back here, or listen for more on this in the upcoming week.