TEXARKANA, Ark. - The city Board of Directors during a meeting on Tuesday rejected a 10% increase in residential water and sewer rates, leaving the proposed new Texarkana Water Utilities budget unpassable and raising the possibility of layoffs and delay of planned infrastructure projects.
With a vote of three for and four against, the Board chose not to adopt an ordinance that would have set the new rate. Because the proposed budget included that rate, a separate resolution to approve the budget was tabled indefinitely. On of the Board's two newest directors, Terry Roberts, led opposition to the ordinance, with Laney Harris, Steven Hollibush and Ulysses Brewer joining him in voting no. Mayor Allen Brown, Barbara Miner and Jeff Hart voted yes.
The 10% rate bump was meant as a temporary measure, reduced from the initial proposal of a 17.75% increase, to fund planned major projects such as sewer main replacement as consultants conducted a rate study and made further recommendations before a new budget would be needed in the fall. Asked what would happen if the 10% raise did not pass, TWU Finance Director Jim Cornelius said staff layoffs were a possibility.
The Board could take up a modified ordinance as soon as its next meeting in two weeks. After Tuesday's meeting, City Manager Kenny Haskin and TWU Executive Director J.D. Phillips said they would consult on a new proposal.
Roberts argued that he could not justify approving a rate increase before TWU had eliminated expenses such as staff car allowances. Brown countered that the city's first rate increase since 2009 was inevitable and such tweaking would be insufficient to fund needed projects costing millions of dollars.
A 10% rate increase would have left TWU with cash reserves sufficient to fund 37 days' worth of expenditures at the end of Fiscal Year 2021, 23 days short of the utility's preferred 60. Both the COVID-19 crisis and abundant rain reduced TWU's 2020 revenues, Cornelius has said.
In other business, the Board awarded a one-year contract to a local group to operate the Iron Mountain Neighborhood Center.
The Board was faced with choosing between two proposals, one from local organizer Latoya Williams and another from Know Your Worth Ministries, led by local minister Tracy Jones. After a motion to approve Williams, the vote was five for and two - Hollibush and Hart - against.
Williams said she and her husband have deep family roots in the center's neighborhood and plan to use donor and grant funding to create a comprehensive community center that will incorporate senior citizen days, after-school tutoring, summer programs for students, and health and job fairs, as well as providing internships for job-seekers.
This story has been corrected. An earlier version stated Laney Harris voted yes and Jeff Hart voted no on the water rate ordinance. The Gazette regrets the error.