City officials answer questions from the public on increasing utility rates

An informal meeting was held Tuesday at the Ville Platte Girls-Boys Place to give city officials an opportunity to field questions from the public over the proposed utility fund increases.
City attorney Eric LaFleur called the meeting a chance “for everybody to get heard to figure out where we’re going to go.”
Before taking questions from the public, financial advisor for the city John Mayeaux (not John Mayeux of Mayeux Wealth Partners in Ville Platte) presented more research to give a better idea on why the rates needed to be raised.
“It’s approaching 20 years since the last increase,” he said.
“The utility system, from an operational perspective, generates less money today than it did 20 years ago. That’s with inflation.”
Mayeaux went on to explain another factor into the decision is rising debt services.
“The debt service was about $500,000.00 20 years ago, and now it’s almost $700,000.00,” he said. “With the last phase of the water system, we’re going to add another $300,000.00 or so. It’ll be over $1 million. The utility system on its own under the existing rate structure cannot pay for its existing expenses and debt service necessary to support it.”
Another factor, according to Mayeaux, is the decreasing amount of excess cash flow from the utility fund into the general fund.
As he explained, “Twenty years ago, the money coming out of the utility fund constituted 27-percent of the general fund’s expenditures. Today, it’s barely 12-percent. If you look at the proposed rate increases at roughly two percent a year, that gets you to around a 40-percent rate increase which is about the average across the different rate groups. That level of rate increase essentially gets us back to around that mid-20s number of supporting the general fund.”
In dollar-and-cent terms, Mayor Jennifer Vidrine explained “the average bill for each resident will go up $8.35 per month for the first year and, for the second year, $9.56 per month for water, gas, and sewer combined. If you don’t have gas, it would be even less.”
The rate increases would vary across the four other rate categories and would depend on usage.
Mayeaux went on to explain the rate increases would generate $1.4 million upon full implementation. “The new debt service on water alone is $400,000.00, so you’re talking about an extra $1 million of cash flow,” he said.
“The city may very well have some other needs within the utility system that will need to be addressed by debt,” Mayeaux continued. “The gas system may need some work because it has some long-term issues, and there are still sewer needs. In addition to debt, there’s been a deferred maintenance issue.”
As the officials then went on to answer questions, Councilman Bryant Riggs expressed, “The rate increase is going to happen. We have to do it whether it is unpopular or not because it will only be for the better good of the residents.”