Huntington City Sets Water and Sewer Rates

By COREY BLUEMEL Staff Writer

Huntington City held a special public hearing and special meeting to discuss and possibly adopt the water and sewer rate structure. When Mayor Jackie Wilson opened the meeting, the first item was to clarify and amend the May 27 meeting minutes. The correction was deemed necessary following the review of the tapes of the meeting.
The proposed ordinance, which the mayor and council members had reworked, was presented and read to those attending the hearing.
The changes included the same overage rate and fee schedule as for private houses.
As the property owners listened to the new proposals of the council, many remarked that the council and property owners are not that far apart.
Sharon Earl, trailer park owner, explained to the council that she had met with Darrel Leamaster of the Castle Valley Special Service. Leamaster had explained to her that of the $10 that Huntington City bills the water users, the special service district receives $6.75. The other $3.25 is retained by the city for the administrative costs of handling the billing. Earl stated that for the trailer park, one bill is sent, so in all fairness, the $3.25 that the city is charging per occupied unit in a trailer park is not right.
Earl read the state statute with regards to occupied trailer park spaces and utility billings. The statute says that a municipality may not profit from the billing of utilities. She stated that $3.25 per occupied unit is remaining in the city coffers which is against the statute.
Huntington City council members discussed several options with the trailer park owners concerning the billing and the process for accounting for occupied spaces in each park every month. The approval was made to charge the owners of the parks $10 for the first residence and $7 for the remaining occupied spaces in each park. This amount reflects the removal of the administrative fees as each park is issued only one bill for the entire park.
Following the public hearing, the council met in a special meeting and approved the acceptance of the resolution amending Huntington City’s monthly water and sewer service fees.