December 14, 2022 |
Facing a 134 percent water rate increase, the corral owners in the Glenn Addition have started a petition to present two compromise solutions to Rawlins City Council next week. Beginning with their December utility bill, the owners of the corrals saw their utility bills jump from $32 to $75. The $43-increase is about double what other city residents saw.
The corral owners question the math the city used to determine their new water rate.
In recent years, each of the 56 lots in the Glenn Addition was charged the water base rate, landfill maintenance fee, and recycling maintenance fee for a total of $32 per month. Beginning in December, in addition to the new base rate of $29.48, the $12 landfill fee and the $6 recycling fee, lot owners also started being charged a water usage fee of $28. Their total utility fee is now $75 a month.
The $28 usage fee per lot is an estimate. Without meters the city has no way of knowing how much each corral owner use. Some use more, some less, but they all pay the same rate.
Austin Thomas owns one lot in the agricultural area on the south side of Rawlins known as the Glenn Addition. Thomas raises chickens. Some owners, like Dori Fritz own more than one lot. Fritz corrals horses. Other owners keep cows and pigs—traditional parts of the Wyoming lifestyle otherwise unavailable in an urban setting. Thomas said the area provides many benefits to the community.
Pictured above: File photo of horse drinking water.
The 50 or so corral owners are big supporters of Carbon County 4-H and generally the western way of life and the values it represents.
Thomas said the city’s math use doesn’t add up. The study used to set the new rate determined that the Glenn Addition uses about 450,000 gallons per month. Corral owners think the city’s estimate is double actual usage. They’ll present an alternative plan to council next week that puts usage at 225,000 gallons a month. Fritz said that the city’s calculation means each corral is using over 267 gallons a day. She contends that’s unlikely when cows consume 30 gallons a day in the summer and horses lap only five gallons a day. Fritz also questions the number of taps used in the study.
City staff is researching the issue. Mira Miller said the person most familiar with the numbers that were plugged into the survey no longer works for the city. So she and Interim City Manager Tom Sarvey are reviewing all the data that were plugged into the study.
Both Miller and Sarvey said the records they have reviewed indicate that usage in the Glenn Addition has trended lower over the last year.
Another option included in the petition that the Glenn Addition owners will bring to city council next weeks would replace the $75 utility bill that includes landfill and recycling fees with one flat fee of $40. Fritz said the city is essentially double charging corral owners because they pay the fee at their residences in-town.
The details of the two options are contained in a petition the group is circulating. They garnered more than 200 signatures. Mayor Terry Weickum told the corral owners in an email Tuesday that he intends to put them on the agenda for next week’s council meeting to hear their request.
