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Commission Minutes
GREENWOOD METROPOLITAN DISTRICT
MINUTES OF THE
August 12, 2009
Public Hearing
The public hearing of the
Greenwood Metropolitan District Commission was held
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at 5:00 p.m., in the Commission
Room of Greenwood Metropolitan District Emmett F. Brooks
Facility, 110 Metro Drive, Greenwood, SC 29646.
In attendance:
Commissioner Michael G.
Monaghan, Chairman Richard Coleman Paige
Holley
Commissioner Gene Hancock,
Secretary George Martin Daryll
Parker
Commissioner Byron
Smith Gayle
Grogan Chris Trainer
Commissioner Bob Haynie
Roy Hemphill Tony Williamson
Commissioner Henry Watts
I.
Chairman Monaghan called the meeting to order.
II.
Chairman Monaghan read the Statement of Compliance
with the notification provision of the Freedom of
Information Act.
III.
Chairman Monaghan read the purpose of the public
hearing is to receive comments from the public concerning
the proposed sewer rates. He said the proposed rates, if
approved by the Commission, will go into effect October 1,
2009. The notice for the public hearing ran in the
newspaper on Friday, July 31st, Wednesday, August
5th, and Sunday, August 9th.
IV.
Chairman Monaghan opened the public hearing to
receive comments concerning the proposed sewer rate increase
as printed in the newspaper.
V.
There were no comments from the public.
VI.
Chairman Monaghan closed the public hearing.
VII.
Mr. Daryll Parker of Utility Advisors’ Network, Inc
provided a summary on how Metro determined which rate
percentage increase they selected. Mr. Chris Trainor of the
Index Journal had a few questions for the Commissioners and
the Manager. Mr. Trainor: “How much is the Wilson Creek
Upgrade going to cost?” Manager Coleman: “This contract is
$35 million and we spent $8 million on phase 1A so it is
about $43 million together for this portion of the
upgrade.” Mr. Trainor: “Is the Wilson Creek Upgrade a big
part of the rate increase?” Mr. Parker: “It’s the biggest
part.” Manager Coleman: “A couple of years ago we borrowed
$31.6 million primarily for the Wilson Creek Upgrade and we
are having to maintain the debt coverage on that because we
are paying it back now.” Chairman Monaghan: “That is why we
have to keep the debt coverage at 1.2 or above.” Mr.
Trainor: ‘How much longer on the Wilson Creek Project?”
Manager Coleman: “It is scheduled to be finished in August,
2010.” Mr. Trainor: “Is that upgrade and a lot of these
upgrades stem from mandated regulatory compliance?”
Chairman Monaghan: “In anticipation of future regulatory
requirements; you have heard that Upstate Forever is going
around giving all these talks and this is a part of our
anticipation of stricter requirements.” Manager Coleman:
“We are not under a current consent order which means that
we have not had a violation that we have a specific time
frame to complete. So it is not a consent order but overall
it is because of requirements.” Mr. Trainor: “There are
industry indicators to see that this is something that needs
to be done, is that what you are saying?” Commissioner
Haynie: “We had to upgrade the facility. You don’t do that
without anticipating additional requirements because it
would be foolish to spend that money and not do those type
of things that you know are coming.” Manager Coleman: “For
instance we know we are violating by having sanitary sewer
overflows when we have intense rains because the plant can
not handle the peak flows. In the upgrade for that we
included the phosphorus and nitrates treatment in the plant
upgrade because we anticipate that in the very near future.
There is no need in doing it half way and coming back to add
that in the future.” Chairman Monaghan: “It would cost us
more later.” Mr. Trainor: “Does this year’s proposed
increase come down to a 9.9% increase.” Manager Coleman:
“That is right.” Commissioner Hancock noted that Metro is
using ultraviolet light to treat the water so that Metro
does not put chemicals back in the water. Chairman Monaghan
said both waste treatment plants used ultraviolet lights
instead of chlorine. Chairman Monaghan: “We are ahead of
the game.” Chairman Monaghan stated his reason for not
voting for a rate increase. Chairman Monaghan: “For the
last two years, I voted against the rate increase, not
because we (Metro) did not need the rate increase but
because within the rate increase we are increasing the base
rate. I think that the increase in the base rate puts a
disproportionate burden on low to moderate income people,
especially seniors. So for that reason alone because I
would vote for a 9.9% increase if it did not included that
feature: I’m not going to vote for this rate increase.”
Commissioner Hancock said using only the volumetric side
Metro does not know if they will get their money back
because the water consumption is decreasing. Commissioner
Haynie: “If Metro were to only raise the volumetric rate the
increase would be over 12%. He thinks Metro is being
reasonable with the proposed rate increase; this is the path
Metro charter for the last two years.” Commissioner Haynie
said he knows Chairman Monaghan voted against the rate
increase last year and he would like to be able to do that
this year, but he said Chairman Monaghan is about as bad as
anybody about bringing extra projects for Metro to do. He
understands Chairman Monaghan concerns but it is a little
disingenuous to me for two years in a row for Chairman
Monaghan to vote against the rate increases when Chairman
Monaghan knows how badly Metro needs them. Commissioner
Haynie said Chairman Monaghan keeps bringing back things for
Metro to do and the extra spending is beyond Metro’s
budget. He thinks all Commissioners should be on board with
the rate increase. Commissioner Haynie: “I do not want to
vote for the rate increase either but the Commissioners have
to do what is responsible for the system, for the
environment and for the rate payers. Chairman Monaghan said
he would vote for a 9.9% rate increase but Metro includes
what he calls a regressive fee because it impacts the higher
percentage of income for a low income person than it does
for an affluent person. He said it is a regressive tax.
Chairman Monaghan said he will go along with the program if
Metro keeps the base rate the same he will vote for the
increase. He said it is not him not going along with the
program; he thinks the rest of the Commissioners should go
along with him. Chairman Monaghan thinks this is a very
regressive trend because if Metro were to go with this
schedule the base fee is going to keep going up.
Commissioner Haynie said: “So is everything else.” Chairman
Monaghan said: “Not disproportionally”. He thinks if you
use it you should pay for it; he does not think the charge
should be in the base rate. Commissioner Haynie said the
way Metro set up the base rate is that the base rate covers
what everybody has to pay for; the basics of the system and
everybody has to participate in that. He thinks Metro
becomes disproportionate when they look at the rate the way
Chairman Monaghan is talking about. Commissioner Haynie
said he thought that is why it is called the based rate it
meets a certain standard of cost of the system that every
customer should have to share. He does not see that as a
regressive charge. Chairman Monaghan said that is not
right; because it does not meet any of that. He said it is
arbitrary number. Mr. Parker said the intent of the base
rate is to recover the fix cost of the system. He said for
utility systems the majority of the costs are fixed for
example debt services and personnel. Mr. Parker said in
theory Metro would want the base rate to cover the fixed
charges because Metro would incur those cost even if there
was no flow. He said the reality is if Metro was to set the
base rate that high; it will be too high. Mr. Parker said
what Utility Advisors is trying to do is move Metro into a
direction where Metro is close to that point. He said from
their standpoint it is fiscally responsible to get as much
guarantee revenue to cover those fixed cost as reasonable.
Chairman Monaghan said he understands the argument but tell
that to the retiree that is purely on Social Security that
uses very little water. He said Commissioner Haynie said
that he (Chairman Monaghan) is disingenuous because he is
not going to vote for this. Chairman Monaghan said he
thinks he will be disingenuous if he portrayers himself as a
Commissioner trying to protect his constituents and he did
not object to the raising of the base rate. Commissioner
Haynie said Metro changed the rates two years ago based on a
lot of Chairman Monaghan arguments for how the rates were
set. He said he does not see how Chairman Monaghan can have
his cake and eat it too. Chairman Monaghan said he made
little progress then. Commissioner Hancock asked for Mr.
Parker to explain why Metro has surcharges. Mr. Parker said
Metro has certain industrial users with extra strength
surcharges. Metro charges those customers an additional
cost to treat the higher strength effluent to dispose of it
properly. The cost for the BOD and TSS is based on the
overall system design to remove the BOD and TSS. Manager
Coleman said if Metro only charges them for the base rate
and volumetric charge it would cost Metro more to treat the
wastewater than what the rate charges are covering. He said
that is the reason between the industrial volumetric charge
and the residential and commercial volumetric charge. The
difference pays for the monitoring of the industrial waste.
VIII.
Commissioner Haynie made a motion to increase the
sewer rates by 9.9% effective October 1, 2009; Commissioner
Smith seconded and the motion was approved. Chairman
Monaghan opposed the motion.
IX.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
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