The Perry Water Works Board of Trustees at their monthly meeting Thursday at the Water Works offices approved a hike in city water rates to begin June 1. The resolution raising rates came alongside the board’s approval of its fiscal year 2018 budget, which projected revenues of $2.057 million and expenses of $2.001 million.
The trustees left base rate and flat-meter rate unchanged but increased the metered-usage rate by 3 percent starting in fiscal year 2018.
For a household consuming water at a typical rate of 3,000 gallons per month, the rate increase will add about 40 cents to the monthly bill. The city water utility serves about 2,850 accounts.
All other rates and fees remained the same, including the 75 percent surcharge applied to bills of out-of-town users of Perry water. About 80 accounts are classified as rural or out-of-town consumers.
The Tyson Fresh Meats factory near Perry, which consumes about one-third of the city’s annual water production and makes up about one-third of the Water Works’ annual revenues, has a contract with the city by the terms of which they pay a 35 percent surcharge on top of the standard in-town rates.
The Perry Water Works’ deal with the pork plant dates from the 1960s, when the factory was operated by Oscar Mayer. The company originally paid a 25 percent surcharge as an out-of-town user of city water.
The surcharge rate was raised to 35 percent in 2009, when Perry improved its service to Tyson Fresh Meats, including installing a larger main to supply the plant.
Tyson also draws water from an 800-foot-deep on-site well that taps the Jordan Aquifer.
In other business Thursday, the water trustees entertained a proposal from a local wireless communications vendor to rent space on the Perry water tower for placement of its transmission equipment.
The father-son team of Jeff and Nathan Leerhoff, owners of BTWI, first approached the Perry Water Works Trustees in 2014with the idea of renting room on the water tower, but signal interference from another renter, Prairie iNet, stalled the deal.
When Prairie iNet recently ended its rental agreement with the Perry Water Works, BTWI approached the board with renewed interest.
“Since they’re no longer there,” Jeff Leerhoff said, “what we would like to do is propose that we would carry forth just like we were planning to before, only we would like to be the sole fixed-wireless provider off of the water tower so it doesn’t cause interference problems.”
BTWI’s system of fixed-wireless is a point-to-point data service. Their technology is distinct from cellular data or mobile broadband communications.
The water board’s unsigned 2014 agreement called for BTWI to pay rent of $500 a month. The Water Works currently rents space on the tower to Verizon Wireless for $994 a month and iWireless for $793.50 a month.
“We’re very interested in moving forward under the same terms and the same payment schedule as we had before,” Leerhoff said, “only we would like to modify that slightly either to include all those frequencies or a blanket statement that we would be the sole and exclusive fixed-wireless provider utilizing the water tower.”
The proposal was received positively by the trustees, who expressed their commitment to supporting local businesses such BTWI. The Water Works’ legal counsel, Mark Powell, of the Perry law firm of Finneseth, Dalen and Powell, urged the board to let him review the proposal before making a decision.
“I just want to board to consider,” Powell said, “that at $500 a month, $600 a month, $700 a month — with our discussions with Prairie iNet, we were asking for substantially more, $1,000. So food for thought.”
The board directed Powell to review the proposed contract and report to the board at its next meeting.
An 8 percent rise in the cost of its health insurance premiums was also approved by the trustees, following a brief presentation from their broker Skip Lowe of the Ankeny-based insurance company Bernie Lowe and Associates.
The Board approved renewal of its Wellmark Health Plan of Iowa Enhanced Blue 1000 HMO police with a partially self-funded benefit account.
The next regular meeting of the Perry Water Works Board of Trustees is Thursday, Feb. 9 at 8 a.m. at the Perry Water Works offices at 1101 W. Third St.
