The Official Unofficial Minutes of the WL BOA
The Unofficial Official Notes of FKAMPT Mary Hoy
4-14
(There will be no mention of Pat White on this post)
Received Mary's (Formerly Known As Mayor Pro Tem) notes from the BOA meeting and as she points out they are "not official minutes". She said she is trying to report information that is interesting or important". I will assist in translating or filling in the blanks.
Mary writes: "Over the past year I have met with a number of Westside residents regarding their concerns about sewer rates. To that end, I developed a proposal which would require each home to pay it'sshare of the Weatherby Lake infrastructure costs and a pro rata share of the Kansas City costs based upon water consumption in moderate usage time period. We had some small discussion, but the general support did not seem to be there. If we are to pursue this further it would need to have a public hearing. Let me know if you think it should be pursued".
Translation: I got hammered by the Mayor and my fellow aldermen. If I had been involved in city government more than two years ago I would have known this has been discussed ad nauseum by the past two administrations...but I can't let Pay By The Flush go. If there are more than the number of residents I have met with (two) who are interested in PBTF, please, please let me know.
Mary writes:
"May 2nd is the City Cleanup Day"
Fill in the blank:
Meet at_______ at ______AM
Mary writes:
"The crack sealer that we purchased will be used this fall to repair those streets with cracks..."
Translation:
Yep, it is still new, unused after a year. No, I don't know why it wasn't used last fall, it's Vics fault. We'll get around to it, maybe, this fall.
Mary writes:
"We approved an agreement with KCMO regarding Barry Road. Finally. The negotiations for this agreement have been over 12 months in process."
Translation:
Must be a typo...Mary knows this has been going on well over 2 years ago back to York. Ask the City attorney.
Mary writes:
"We removed the 5$ water meter fee."
Translation:
We remove no fee before its time. Almost a year ago the BOA moved to stop the radio read meter program. No meters purchased, but your money was spent. Can't fill in the blank on this one...you'll have to ask Mary.
Enough for now. I turn it over to the apologists for Mary. Did I get it right?
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10 comments:
Mike,
I think you have Mary's proposal on the sewer rates wrong. I believe the issue raised by some of her constituents was not "snowbird-related" but rather homes that have one or two residents versus those that have multiple residents and/or daycares. The way I understand it there are several people who believe it is unfair that they pay the same flat sewer rate for their home of one or two versus the multifamily or more residents per household. I believe she was trying to find a way to make that more equitable but you can ask her to clarify that way you will understand.
Additionally, I believe her proposal includes makign sure the infrastructure is covered.
It is interesting there are never demeaning comments about Tanya Finn or Vic DeJong. Is the simple answer, people are happy with them?
Mary has raised the issue and used the words "snowbird" in discussions, although it certainly could apply to empty nesters as well. Her proposal could have put us at risk for KCMO changing the way they bill us...and raise the rates significantly. The current billing methodology provides for infrastructure. Which does get to the point. No matter if you flush once or a hundred times in a day the system has to be maintained. If you go on vacation for a week or six months you don't shut off the sewer system (unlike water). I guess another approach could be Pay By The Toilet, divide the City sewer bill by the number of toilets and then bill each household accordingly.
I suggest the most important issue is the maintenance and upkeep of the system itself. Sooner or later we will be charged with certifying (EPA)our system does not have groundwater problems. We're not there yet.
Mike, when i looked at this issue a number of years ago I had understood that KCMO was billing us a flat rate per household, and that our city added more to it and billed us to cover infrastructure. Do you know if KCMO has changed how it bills us? I guess I'm not getting what the purpose of changing from a flat rate to usage is all about except it will make my rates goes higher. Any insights?
I would love to apply the logic Pay-When-You-Use-It to many things. How about WLIC fees base on how many times you take your boat out and use the lake. Or why don't we assess road upgrades or paving to the individuals living on that street and then charge a toll to anyone else who uses it. Okay, bad examples, but the point is - the system is made available for all to use and at anytime they choose to use it. If an empty nester suddenly had a son or daughter move back in, do you really think they would report it so their fees are adjusted accordingly? Can you imagine - neighbors monitoring their neighbors and counting how many people are living in a household at anyone time. Or if we put a flushing monitor on our toilets, you know someone will rig it. I have a problem with people who can afford two homes and want to shift costs to one home owners. If you can afford two homes, you can afford equal billing on our sewer/water system.
anon@5:40
The sewer rate billing/calculation has not changed from when you checked. There was some controversy in the recent past regarding the grinder fee, promoted by those who did not have grinders. A majority of homes at WL have grinders, the rest are on a so-called gravity system. A few folks said it wasn't "fair" to pay a grinder fee. The thought then and now is this is part of our sewer system, emphasis on system. The benefit to all is sewage goes into the system and pumped away to be processed (unless KCMO has a spill which goes into the lake). Imagine where it went when there were just septic systems here.
If we had pay-as-you-flush, people would just let it pile up and at the end of the day, flush once. Seriously, people with limited income would do this. Or why bother with a toilet and just go outside. Easy for a guy to do. Don't kid yourself, people will find ways to limit flushing. In the mean time, people with vacation homes get a break on their bills and people of less means find alternative ways to save flushing costs.beadsty
I do not believe there was any "pay-by-the-flush" in the proposal. Why don't you ask Mary to explain rather than speculate?
Until we moved to WL we never had a flat rate sewer charge. Don't know how EVERY place we lived before was able to somehow figure out sewer rates, but they sure did for YEARS.. I know our bill was not the same as everyone elses. I also don't think a # of residents will work either. Just because there are 2 people in a house doesn't mean they aren't retired and home all day flushing away while a family of 4 or 5 may work 2 jobs and have kids that are in school then sports and only home at bedtime when the take showers and go to the bathroom in the morning when they wake. Lets not assume we can determine usage by numbers. I know myself and my spouse both work 2 jobs, on average we might use our flushers 1 time each per day and the shower. However as I work out at the office after my second job, I also take a shower there before comeing home and listening to the wife complain I got sweat in the car. So I mainly use my shower on weekends. Should I get a discount becuase I don't shower as much as the retired couple 5 doors down??? Something to ponder. I also know of a lady who does daycare here at the lake. I know she always is gone with all 5 of the kids most of the day. Should her family be charged more becuase they are a family of 4 and have 5 daycare kids (even though 4 of the 5 are in diapers and pull ups??) Lets get real people
But if KCMO charges our City a flat rate per household, and they are the ones processing our sewage, then why are we thinking our City should charge us based on usage? It would makes sense to do that if KCMO charged our City by tonage or amount of sewage processed, but they don't. It's a flat rate per household period and doesn't matter what the usage is. Maybe I don't have all the facts, but I just don't get the point of changing.
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