Water rate increase likely less than expected in Marble Falls
BY GLYNIS CRAWFORD SMITH
THE HIGHLANDER
Residents of Marble Falls will not see quite as large a water rate increase as anticipated when the sale of $7.93 million in bonds for infrastructure projects was first proposed.
The Marble Falls City Council on Tuesday, Sept. 20, came to a consensus on a plan from among at least six detailed water rate changes.
“We talked about an across-the-board water rate increase of 12 percent (when the sale was proposed),” said Finance Director Margie Cardenas. “We got a really good interest rate and were able to do a little better.”
Overall, increases will average 10.7 percent in the plan the council asked staff to finalize for approval.
The majority of the city's water customers fall into the category of using around 5,000 gallons per month, according to Cardenas. They will see an increase of just under $5 per month. Customers in the 10,000 gallons per month bracket will see an increase of about $7.46 per month.
Wastewater rates are to increase 12 percent across the board.
The little guy will see some relief in permit fees if a fee schedule presented by City Manager Mike Hodge and Assistant City Manager Caleb Kraenzel is finally approved by the council.
“Previously, small jobs have been overpaying and large projects have been underpaying,” said Kraenzel when he explained how the Development Department had analyzed various permits based on the amount of staff time devoted to inspections.
“Still the out-the-door prices changes only nine percent,” he said.
The pleasant surprise for council members came when they examined the development staff comparison of development fees with other cities.
A grand total for a typical $180,000 residential project came to $3,330.78, a cost lower only than current totals in Lampasas, Lakeway and Granite Shoals among 19 Central Texas cities.
In comparison of the average for a complicated project, such as a 12,689-square-foot medical building, the average costs of permits under the proposed fees would be $12,462.95, actually abut $400 less expensive than it is now. While such a project would be $600-$1,000 less expensive than five of the 19 cities it was double to seven times greater in nine of them.
“That makes it attractive to come to Marble Falls,” said Mayor Pro Tem Jane Marie Hurst.
“The original CUP was approved a year ago,”said City Planner Elizabeth Yeh. “This final adjustment to the site plan is to preserve the amount of existing large oak trees on the site mainly...The 12 buildings originally proposed have come down to 11; total units from 206 to 200.”
Council members seemed in general agreement in a discussion regarding a proposal from the First United Methodist Church for donation of approximately 2.4 acres of land and right-of-way easement from Mission Hills Drive to Ranch to Market Road 1431. Assistant City Manager Caleb Kraenzel explained that the donation had been discussed for several years.
“Some of it is in the floodplain; some even in the floodway (of Whitman Branch),” said Kraenzel. “We have a major trunk line to the sewer plant under the plant...Staff feels it has future opportunities for city benefit, whether for a hike and bile trail, sewer improvements or water quality control.”
Especially since the floods of 2007, the city has gone in annually to keep brush down for flood control in the creek bed that runs approximately parallel to Bluebonnet Drive. The conveyance would require some additional legal work and a formal vote in the future, but no council member had an objection.
“We don't have the manpower or equipment to maintain it and we are doing this a lot for safety,” said former mayor Nona Fox, who was at the meeting with fellow church members Dale Brown and Brandi Melton.
Approved as part of the council's consent agenda was approval of a request for $4,953 from the Community Event Fund toward an estimated $9,906 cost of acquiring 13 new lighted fixtures for the Walkway of Lights and lighted trophy figurines for the Community Holiday Lighting Initiative.
