Water Rates: Gene presented members with a detailed spread sheet of our water usage for the past year. Rhonda had received a copy prior to the meeting in order to work on a revision proposal. She found that by eliminating the summer months (June,July and August) when everyone's usage tends to be somewhat higher, the average is around 6,300 gallons which would suggest that our base of 6,000 gallons is probably pretty reasonable. It was generally felt that leaving the base rate at $45.00 for usage up to 6,000 gallons would be a good idea because while we might be able to afford to lower it a few dollars, anything above and beyond what will cover our normal expenses will be beneficial because of the previously mentioned expenditures we're looking at in the near future. Rhonda proposed a revision to water usage over 6,000 gallons which would be that instead of a rate adjustment every so many thousand gallons, members would be charged .0025 for every gallon used over 6,000, regardless of how many gallons are used. As an example, someone using 10,000 gallons would be charged .0025 for the 4,000 gallon overage which would be $10..00 in addition to the $45.00 base rate. This would only be $3.00 more than the old rates. A total of 20,000 gallons used however would be .0025 for the 14,000 gallon overage which would be $35.00 in addition to the $45.00 base for a total of $80.00 as opposed to the $69.50 that would have been charged previously. The argument is that this is fairer in terms of the cost more closely paralleling the usage, gallon for gallon. In addition, with the expenditures mentioned previously that will be coming up in the near future, this adjustment would help toward building up our accounts again. It was moved by Chris, seconded by Gene and carried that we maintain the base rate of $45.00 for water usage under 6,000 gallons and to adopt Rhonda's proposed revision of charging .0025/gal for every gallon over 6,000. This revision will be reflected in April's bill.
