CITY OF PICKERINGTON

UTILITY FEES REVIEW COMMITTEE

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2006

REGULAR MEETING

7:00 P.M.

1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Wright called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. with the following members present: Mr. Hackworth, Mr. Wright, Mr. Sauer and Mr. Snyder. Mr. Walburn was absent. Others present were: Judy Gilliland, Jeff Fix, Ed Drobina and Molly Schwartz.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES.

A. Approval of Minutes of November 21, 2005, Regular Meeting. Mr. Hackworth moved to approve; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion. Roll Call was taken with Mr. Hackworth, Mr. Wright, Mr. Sauer and Mr. Snyder voting “Yea.” Motion passed 4-0.

3. SCHEDULE MATTERS:

A. Review and discussion regarding water and sewer user fees – Judy asked the committee to first review the ordinances related to water and sewer issues which have gone through City Council the past couple of months. Mr. Snyder asked when the residents will know about the 5% increase. Mr. Hackworth said he thought it was already published in the paper. Judy was unaware of this and stated she sent an email to the BIA regarding the matter. Mr. Hackworth stated Sean Casey (reporter for This Week newspaper) called him earlier today asking about the numbers. Mr. Wright stated he was interested too see when this is all settled the committee should compare all of the surrounding communities to see where Pickerington lies. The Committee then referred to their previous meeting handouts to review. Mr. Snyder referred to the handout given out on November 21, 2005 showing a 3% increase included. Mr. Wright stated make sure they state the City of Pickerington has not had a water and sewer increase since the early 1990’s. Mr. Wright stated the Village of Groveport just had an increase for user fees in 1997. Mr. Snyder asked when the second reading for Council on the user fees and Mr. Hackworth stated on February 6, 2006. Ms. Gilliland stated the City has received a lot of information over the past several months. For instance, the Circuit Rider Report and comparison on the user fees and she asked the committee if there was any other information the committee would like to have. Mr. Drobina stated he talked to Mr. Walburn last week and he would like to be provided with the following documents for the next meeting: how much income for water and sewer did we get from our user fees, how much expenses did the City have for water and sewer and our debt retirement and how many years it will take the City to pay it off. Mr. Drobina also stated he has talked to Linda Fersch (Finance Director) and she will be providing the committee with the information. Mr. Hackworth stated there are a couple of problems because two of those loans we can not pay off due to the way that they were set up. Mr. Wright stated one of the discussions at the first committee meeting was Linda Fersch spoke to them about the money the City has out on loans. Mr. Wright recalled a gentlemen coming to one of their meetings in the past identified by Ms. Gilliland as Bob Kramer. Mr. Wright stated the committee is trying to get the water and sewer to be self supportive without tap fees being assessed. Mr. Hackworth asked if Mr. Kramer will be able to give the committee some sort of guidance on how the committee will be able to change the debt to revenue bonds so they will be able to accomplish all of their goals. Mr. Snyder recalled Mr. Kramer stating he would provide them with 5-10-15 year options of what the committee could do. Mr. Hackworth stated he feels that Mr. Kramer’s initial plan was to sit down a figure out what the City’s projected capital expenses were going to be and to get a five year fee proposal so then he could present that to the lenders to convert our debt over into revenue. Ms. Gilliland asked if it was a 5-10-15 year option or a 1-2-3 implication plan. Mr. Hackworth stated he thought the implication plan was what he was talking about. Ms. Gilliland stated she would call Mr. Kramer and ask him to attend the next meeting. Mr. Sauer stated he would like to see what the City has in total outstanding debt (the flat dollar amount), then review what the City has coming in as income, what the City needs to pay it off in terms of what the user fees will need to be in relation to that and also what we are planning on doing in the future. Mr. Hackworth asked if the committee could get copies of the water and sewer CIP pages and maybe it would help the committee members who have not gone through the budget process. Ms. Gilliland stated she would obtain those copies for the committee members. Mr. Snyder stated his biggest concern is the City has to net positive at some point in time and how long does it take to get there, how are we going to do it and what impact is it going to have on the high end consumer. Mr. Hackworth said it might be easier to understand with this water comparison and the committee should break it down so that it will be easier for the public to understand. Mr. Drobina asked if the committee would like to him to contact local communities to see if they had a rate increase this year. Mr. Hackworth stated he knows Groveport, Reynoldsburg and Canal Winchester had water rate increases. Mr. Wright stated he read in the paper where Groveport is looking at going to a 3.9% or 7.9% increase and their sewer rates are looking at increasing 6.4%. Mr. Fix spoke to the committee regarding electric and telephone companies raising their rates. Mr. Fix stated when the electric and telephone companies raise their rates there is nothing you can do about it. Mr. Fix said there are other utilities that we all have to pay for and we have no say over what their rates are, so before the committee goes to the public for the increase do some research on the electric and telephone companies to see how much they have increased their rates since the early 1990’s. Mr. Snyder said he feels the sell of this increase will be the hardest thing to do. Ms. Gilliland stated she understands the committee members are pretty much all bottom line people. You want us to show you the income, the revenue, the expenditures and what debt we have. She also stated she knows some people have expressed an interest in why are our expenses at this rate, why are our capital items planned for these years, could the City put off any of these. Ms. Gilliland said if there is anything the committee members that the committee needs to explore more then let’s do it. Mr. Sauer said two issues immediately come to his mind 1. he appreciates the need to get revenues up and 2. But understand that residents have budgets they need to live within. Mr. Wright stated he feels the committee needs to be very prepared to answer questions when discussing the increase whether it be with the Council Members or the residents. Mr. Wright brought up the hand out regarding Marysville water increase and they are going up 70% by the year 2010. Mr. Hackworth stated there is a big housing development project in the Marysville area. Mr. Wright stated that the City is currently building approximately 200 homes per year. Mr. Wright asked when does the City max out or is there a number where we can not build anymore. Ms. Gilliland stated on a sewer capacity standpoint we have about 1,000 more homes but it also depends upon how much commercial projects we get. Mr. Snyder said that we can not sit back and wait until 2008 and then realize the City is maxed out. Mr. Snyder said that we have to understand that first we have to quite using the tap fees as our savings account. Mr. Hackworth said as we start enacting the first of December’s the impact fees for $3,500 and the design guidelines Council is working their way through is going to add according to Maronda Homes is $30,000, but Mr. Hackworth feels it will be more around $5,000. So each of those is building into the price and value of the house so there is going to be less demand because of a higher price and once those numbers those houses do drop off then the City will not be able to pay our debt. Mr. Hackworth also stated the way it was financed in the past was through tap fees so we have to be in position to have those rates in place in order to get up on the housing market. Mr. Snyder referred to a Columbus Dispatch article in this past weekend paper regarding where Ohio ranks on growth.

4. OTHER BUSINESS: NONE

5. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Wright moved to adjourn; Mr. Hackworth seconded the motion. Mr. Hackworth, Mr. Wright, Mr. Sauer and Mr. Snyder voting “Yea.” Motion passed 4-0. The Utility Fees Review Committee adjourned at 7:33 P.M., January 23, 2006.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Molly Schwartz, Clerk of Court