City delays rate increase

CHENEY – The Cheney City Council on Tuesday night decided not to raise wastewater fees by 3 percent, but will re-examine the rates later this year.

The decision came after the announcement that Wilcox Family Farms will shut down at the end of the month. The closure means the city will lose around $195,000 in wastewater fees.

But even without the Wilcox plant, the city still needs to expand its wastewater treatment plant. Larry Esvelt, an environmental engineer who is the project engineer for the treatment plant expansion and designed the original plant, told the council the amount of suspended solids in wastewater that would be processed through the plant without the dairy would still be great enough to warrant expanding the plant. The project will cost around $12 million.

Councilmember Curt Huff pointed out that The Grove at Terra Vista, a student housing complex under construction on the Cheney-Spangle Road, will help to make up some of the revenue lost from the closure of Wilcox.

Huff said he felt the council should monitor the situation a little longer before making the decision to raise the rates.

“We can raise the rates at a later date,” Huff said.

Joe Tortorelli, an economic developer for the city, said he is now looking for opportunities to recruit another milk processor or other businesses to move into the Wilcox plant.

Councilmember Annette Mather worried about delaying raising the rates. When the city needed to raise the wastewater hook-up fees, it hadn’t been done in so long the fees jumped from around $800 to around $4,800, she said. The city was criticized that it hadn’t raised fees incrementally over the years, and she said she didn’t want the same thing to happen with wastewater rates.

“I want to ensure there is an adequate stream of revenue coming in so we are able to pay our bills,” said Don MacDonald, director of public works. He added the city is not in dire straits as far as reserve funds.

City Administrator Arlene Fisher worried that even though The Grove is expected to bring in more residents, there is no guarantee that every unit in the building will be occupied.

“If the Grove only gets 250 residents as opposed to 500 residents, that’s a lot of toilets that aren’t going to be flushing,” she said.

Doug Nixon, Huff, Tom Trulove and Mike McKeehan voted against the 3 percent rate increase. The council agreed to take another look at the rates in November.

In other council business:

“Paul Simmons, the recreation director at Cheney Parks and Recreation, announced that the next community meeting for feedback on the Betz Park plans will be held May 1 at 6 p.m. before the next park board meeting at the Wren Pierson Community Center.

Landscape architects from Sherry, Pratt, Van Voorhis will present the community with three prototypes of a park for feedback.