News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
After six workshops, the Sisters City Council is still trying to hammer out a way to close a roughly $90,000 shortfall in the city's water fund.
The city currently charges a base rate of $19.80 for the first 1,337 cubic feet of water and 99 cents per 100 cubic feet over the base. Most water users in the city don't use anything close to 1,337; residential users consume an average 450 cubic feet in winter and 600 in
summer.
Commercial users such as restaurants and car washes use considerably more water, leading some councilors to argue that residential users have effectively been subsidizing larger users for decades.
A consultant has recommended phasing in a program that would reduce the base consumption threshold to 500 cubic feet in the third year and increase overage charges to $1.86 per 100 cubic feet. That would reduce the fixed charge that most residents would pay by just under a dollar, but it could substantially increase rates for commercial users.
That's a sticking point for Councilor Pat Thompson.
"I would like to look at options of different rate structures, because they only one that we've looked at doubles commercial rates," Thompson told The Nugget.
(The effects would be seasonal - most users would see smaller increases in the winter.)
Thompson resists the "equity" argument regarding residential customers' water bills, saying that the public is going to pay the cost of higher commercial water rates indirectly.
"They'll have to raise the prices of goods and services to the public, so the public will be paying for it anyway," he said.
Thompson praised city staff for finding savings in expenses to make up part of the shortfall.
"I want to make sure that everything has been looked at and that everything has been done at City Hall before the citizen is asked to pay more for the same service," Thompson said.
Costs for providing water to Sisters are related to power to run the city's wells and the personnel costs of managing the water system and the city's water
accounts.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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