.jpg) |
| Every penny counts. And, the average Durango resident who uses the phone, turns on the lights, flushes the toilet and recycles, is going to need a lot more change in the coming year with an extra $268 in fees, rate increases and surcharges./Photo by Steve Eginoire |
Nickels and dimes
Increases in City fees, electric rates to add up in 2013
by Tracy Chamberlin
The recycling fee is only 10 cents a day, the franchise fee just 12 cents. And, the 911 surcharge is a meager 60 cents a month. But eventually all those nickels and dimes start to add up and the family budget can take a hit.
The recycling fee is only 10 cents a day, the franchise fee just 12 cents. And, the 911 surcharge is a meager 60 cents a month. But eventually all those nickels and dimes start to add up and the family budget can take a hit.
For the average Durango resident who uses the phone, turns on the lights, flushes the toilet and recycles, it means an extra $268 a year.
“You get something for that,” said City Councilor Sweetie Marbury. From recycling services to updated sewer facilities to 911 emergency responders, the money is going somewhere.
That doesn’t mean it’s an easy vote for Marbury, who said the increases are hard for everyone, including members of the City Council. “We’re raising it on ourselves as well,” she added.
Mayor Doug Lyon agreed raising costs for residents is a difficult vote, adding that his family is taking steps to tighten its budget. “We don’t take it lightly,” he said.
Rising tide: Breaking down the budget- Sewer rates |
Many things have influenced the changes, including the fact that while Durango has grown over the past decades, some of the fees have not kept pace.
The largest contributor to the new bottom line is electricity. The price for power will increase 11 percent starting Jan. 1, adding $134.40 to the annual budget.
A bill from La Plata Electric Association for an average household in Durango is currently $88.40 each month, according to the co-op. With the new rates that bill will go up $11.20 to $99.60.
“We know our rate hike, as well as all the coming additional surcharges and fees, are going to be difficult on Durango residents, especially those with a fixed income,” said the co-op’s CEO Greg Munro.
The hike is directly associated with the price of power generation. It’s costing more for Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, LPEA’s power supplier, which in turn pass those costs onto LPEA.
According to Munro, LPEA implemented new technologies, cut back on programs and even refinanced its debt in an effort to reduce costs and get as lean as possible without impacting service. But like the electricity, rising costs move down the lines and into the homes of Durangoans.
Under Tri-State’s new rate structure, LPEA also does not get the same savings for off-peak electricity as it once did. Therefore, the Time-of-Use program has also changed. Electricity savings are still available with the updated program and the electric thermal storage, or ETS, space heating systems offered, but the parameters have changed. “We are committed to helping people learn how to use electricity more efficiently and help them implement energy-efficient measures,” Munro said. “People just need to contact us.”
And usage isn’t the only thing going up on the family’s electric bill. After voters 4 approved the city’s 20-year franchise agreement with LPEA in November, residents will soon see the franchise fee on their bills.
The fee is 4.67 percent of usage and estimated to cost the average home 12 cents a day. That will add $3.60 a month or $43.20 a year to the bottom line of the budget.
That money also puts about $800,000 into the city’s general fund, which relies heavily on sales tax revenues.
Some of the rates and fees have been stagnant for a decade or more. According to city officials, the wastewater treatment plant has been updated with modern technologies and more efficient equipment, but what it hasn’t seen in 25 years is any investment to increase its capacity.
Lyon pointed out the sewer spill in the Animas River this summer and how it highlighted the hazards of under-investing in sewer infrastructure. “We just can’t take the chance of an environmental problem,” he added.
With the extra fee, the sewer fund will get about $840,000 in 2013 and another $840,000 in 2014 to invest in these types of improvements.
Currently, the minimum charge for one living unit is $7.82 in town and $15.64 outside the city limits. The new rates will double under a two-part structure. The first increase goes into effect in January 2013, and the second in December 2013.
The minimum charge for one living unit, starting in January, would be $11.75 in town and $23.48 outside the city limits. As of December that amount will jump to $15.64 and $31.28.
Two of the least expensive additions to the average Durango budget are the recycling fee associated with the city’s new singlestream program and the 911 surcharge.
The new recycling program will accept more products, including all types of plastics, and consolidate the process. Residents will need to separate out glass, however, since it cannot be bundled with the other items.
The monthly fee for residential curbside pickup will be $3. That alone could generate more than $160,000 in annual revenue for the city, which would help offset the deficit the program has been running in the past.
It is also intended to keep more material out of the landfill, which Marbury said is not only environmentally but fiscally sound. The city currently pays about $10,000 each year for upkeep of the landfill. “That $10,000 will go on forever,” she added.
The council passed the hike for Durango residents, but it also affects those living outside city limits. Nonresidents will now be charged for drop offs at the Recycling Center, $1 per 60 gallons. The commercial charge will be $2 per cubic yard.
The rate increase will go into effect after upgrades to the current facility are complete, which is expected sometime in early spring. This ups the family budget another $36 per year.
The smallest increase monetarily is also one of the largest percentage-wise. The 911 surcharge, which is added to the phone bill and helps pay for emergency services, was last increased in 2001 to 70 cents per month.
That doesn’t cover the cost of providing those services today, so the council voted to approve an increase of 60 cents, almost doubling the monthly charge, to $1.30.
Like the recycling program, some steps need to be taken before the charge will show up on bills, and the charges are expected to go into effect in early spring. The new charge is expected to augment the emergency services budget by $356,000 a year.
All in all, Durango households can expect to pay an additional $268 in expenses in 2013 – to start with.
Other costs could be coming down the pike. New parking meters and a new parking system downtown are on the city’s agenda for next year with a spot on Main Avenue just one credit card swipe away. The price for parking meters is projected to go up from 60 cents per hour to $1, so parking downtown just once a month for one hour could raise the annual budget $4.80.
It might be just a handful of change, but with every nickel and dime that goes into the meter something might need to get cut from the family budget. “I don’t know how sometimes people do it,” Lyon said.
Watt More? For help figuring out how to get the most from LPEA’s Time-of-Use program and information about the space
heating systems, visit www.lpea.com or call 247-5786.
heating systems, visit www.lpea.com or call 247-5786.