JAMESTOWN – No final decision has been reached regarding a rate hike for Jamestown board of Public Utilities water customers.
On Monday afternoon BPU officials spent nearly three hours discussing the 2016 water division budget and what can be done to help offset a projected 12 percent rate increase next year.
According to an article in the Jamestown Post-Journal, members of the BPU held a work session on Monday and spent a great deal of time reviewing and debating a series of cuts recommended by Mayor Sam Teresi, who also serves as BPU president. A total of $175,000 in cuts to the water division budget were tentatively approved, with officials expected to finalize the budget during next week’s voting session.
Last month BPU General Manager David Leathers said the water division was expecting a 2.7 percent rate hike. But with a $482,000 dividend payment to the for the 2016 city budget being approved, Leathers said the money would have to come from the water division with the difference being made through a rate hike.
With the $175,000 in tentative cuts, the projected water rate hike would be about 8.5 percent.
The BPU will continue to discuss and then finalize the water division budget during its final voting session of the year next week.
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