THE CITY REBORN FROM THE ASHES OF AMERICA'S MOST DISASTROUS FOREST FIRE
Delay City Council Sewer Rate Hearing Until Thursday, Dec. 17
Issue Date: November 25, 2020
A public hearing on a proposed sewer rate increase for customers of the City of Peshtigo Water and Sewer Utility has been postponed until 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 17, and will be immediately followed by the regular monthly meeting of Peshtigo City Council, at which approval is expected.
Both the sewer rate increase hearing and the Council meeting had originally been scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 1, but the delay was needed to comply with advance public notice requirements for the ordinance change needed to put a sewer rate increase into effect.
Peshtigo City Council meetings are regularly held on the first Tuesday of each month. However, Council is holding a special budget meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 25, and decision was made to have that meeting and the budget hearing go forward as planned and tend to regular monthly city business on Dec. 17 along with the sewer rate increase hearing.
Plans of the Water and Sewer Committee are to have the sewer rate hike go into effect for the first quarter of 2021.
The proposed rate increase will raise cost for regular residential sewer users by approximately $37.77 per quarter, from an average quarterly bill of $76.58 to $114.29. Impact on commercial and industrial sewer users will be much higher. BPM Inc. General Manager Jim Koronkiewicz had told the Water and Sewer Committee at its meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 4 that the paper mill's sewer bill for 2019 would have been $424,858 higher had the charges been computed with the proposed new rates in effect.