Whether Porter will become the last town in the state to pass along to
residents its hydrant user fees will be put to a final vote Dec. 11.
Meeting Tuesday, the Porter Town Council voted 5-0 on first reading to pass
along to Indiana American Water Co.’s customers residing in Porter the
company’s related costs to furnish water for public fire-protection
purposes.
The fee would be added to IAWC’s basic rates and charges. Residents who do
not use IAWC water will not be assessed.
The exact amount of the hydrant fee residents will pay is not yet known, but
the cost now paid by the town will be divided between Porter’s approximately
1,200 IAWC customers.
No member of the public commented Tuesday regarding the hydrant fee.
Council member Elka Nelson said with the current property-tax circuit
breakers in place and the number of pending property-tax appeals in Porter,
additional revenue is needed to expand police coverage and offset the
anticipated decrease in tax receipts.
Nelson said the council is doing all it can to cut costs to stretch the
budget. No council members are covered under the town employee
medical-insurance policy, a savings of about $20,000 a year, and some
positions in town government have been consolidated to save money, she
explained.
A 2013 salary ordinance was adopted during the meeting. Council president
Greg Stinson later said all the town could afford to give its employees next
year is a 2 percent raise.
The hydrant fee first was proposed by Nelson at the Nov. 13 meeting. At that
time it was stated Porter might free up about $113,000 annually for other
uses if residents pay the fee instead of the town. A previous Porter council
imposed a hydrant fee in 2003 but the next council rescinded it in 2005.
Burns Harbor authorized passing its own IAWC hydrant user fee Oct. 17 of
this year, but now its council president said he’s having second thoughts
after the amount residents would pay there is turning out to be much more
than first anticipated.
Discussion regarding the Burns Harbor fee cited an approximate monthly
charge of $4.12 being added to IAWC bills there; no opposition was voiced by
residents last month, and a former council member said the new revenue is
needed to cover town operating expenses.
Tuesday, clerk-treasurer Jane Jordan confirmed she subsequently was
contacted by David Ryan, IAWC manager of operations, who said calculations
show the actual fee would be closer to $10 or $11 a month based on having
approximately 456 water customers in town.
Jordan said she forwarded Ryan’s email to Burns Harbor council members last
week.
Asked Tuesday for his reaction, council president Jim McGee said it’s news
to him. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.” He said he recently returned
from out of state and knows there’s been trouble with the new town email
system.
“I thought $4 was fine but $11, oh wow,” continued McGee. Had he received
Jordan’s email message, he added, “Jane would have heard from me, even if I
was in Egypt. I don’t want to pay that; I’m a resident.”
It’s not clear how the original $4.12 estimate came about. McGee said the
town tried to get a reliable figure from IAWC and thought they had it.
Nelson said that’s why Porter officials are hesitant to quote a monthly fee
amount until they’re sure what it would be.
McGee said the Burns Harbor council definitely will discuss its fee at the
Dec. 12 meeting. He questioned whether the council should pass along the
substantially higher cost to residents, if in fact the current figures are
correct, especially since it’s unclear how IAWC would regulate the amount it
charges in coming years.
Chesterton for several years has had IAWC include in its customer billings
the costs for hydrant maintenance related to fire protection there.
In other fee news, the Porter council introduced and set for final approval
Dec. 11 an ordinance that would increase the rate and charge to be collected
per residential household for future garbage pickup and disposal. The
current $13.89 charge will increase to $14.24 next year and $14.59 in 2014.
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