LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / September 3, 2000

HAHNVILLE – St. Charles Parish residents could be hit with a doubling ofsewer fees to fend off financial disaster, according to Parish President Albert Laque.

Meanwhile, some council members are opposed to raising any fees until spending is brought under control to convince the public such a rate hike is, indeed, necessary.

Laque said he was told by his transition team when he assumed office in January that the rate structure was totally inadequate to finance the sewer treatment plants and their operation and maintenance. He commissioned arate study, which he received last week.

The results of the study were, Laque said, “very disturbing to me.” Thecurrent rate structure includes a base rate of $3 per month, plus $1.80 per1,000 gallons.

The new proposed rate package would raise the usage rate to $4.05 per1,000 gallons. This translates into someone currently paying $15 per monthto suddenly have to pay $31 per month.

Laque affirmed, “I certainly hate to be the one to pass along this terrible news, but the prior Parish Council chose not to deal with this sensitive issue and therefore the financial condition of the Department of Wastewater is now critical.”Council members who served during the last administration have a slightly different view. Councilman G. “Ram” Ramchandran said the blame was mostlyon the parish president for never sending a rate increase ordinance in the last several years for council consideration.

A past budget message for then-President Chris Tregre emphasized that Wastewater’s cash was fast draining away. Tregre said in late 1997, “Thelast wastewater rate adjustment was in 1994, almost four years ago.

Gentlemen, this is a serious problem that needs to be resolved as soon as possible in order to keep the wastewater system from becoming insolvent.”The next fall, Tregre said in his budget message he would urge the funneling of New Orleans Airport Sales Tax revenue, an estimated $400,000 annually, into the wastewater coffers to keep the system solvent. This was laterdone, but Tregre said a rate increase would be necessary.

Finally, in late 1999, just prior to leaving office, Tregre’s budget message noted that “user rates have not kept pace with inflation factors and the cost of operations since 1995.” He called for a renewal of the airport salestax subsidy to continue supplementing user fees to keep the wastewater system solvent.

“It’s not fair and it’s not right,” Ramchandran declared. He pointed out that88 percent of local property taxes are paid by industry. Of the remaining 12percent paid by residents, only 35 percent of the parish residents are not homestead-exempt and thus pay taxes.

Ramchandran has already introduced an ordinance to mandate a spending freeze and a hiring freeze, where not strictly necessary.

He is also calling for raising fees very gradually over a five-year period, two public hearings on the entire matter during September, one on each side of the river, and a re-examination of what is strictly necessary to be funded in wastewater before raising sewer rates.

Council member Dee Abadie said she didn’t blame Laque for the situation but chided him for not suggesting any alternatives to an immediate rate hike.

“Now, where’s the vision to come up with an alternative?” she asked.

She also warned the public that similar rate hikes are on the horizon on solid waste collection and water rates.

Abadie said also the parish could examine other parishes’ ways of financing their wastewater treatment programs to get ideas for alternative funding.

Councilman Barry Minnich said he opposed the airport revenues subsidy but also said spending approved by the council has gotten far out of control. Hecalled the Hartman and Shred-Kuyrkendall engineering supervision contracts “a total waste of money,” and added, “I do think the council is spending too much money on too many contracts.”Minnich continued: “There’s a whole lot of things we need to cut out before we increase anybody’s sewer fee. We need to come up with a plan and not hitthese people all at once.”He concluded, “We have to be reasonable and responsible.”

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