MONROE - The Common Council's vote Feb. 2 to postpone the 8th/9th Street projects has set off a series of unknowns for utility department heads.
The Common Council passed a motion Tuesday by Council President Dan Henke to redesign the 8th/9th Street project to include full replacement of water mains and sanitary and storm sewer.
But the cost of redesigning the 8th/9th Street plan for infrastructure installation is not known.
"There is no way of knowing," said Mayor Ron Marsh Friday.
Design plans involving the widening of the street will not be changed, Marsh said.
"That's more complex, and would take us away from where we are," he said.
The street widening project involves the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, and has an accompanying grant to cover about 80 percent of the project as planned. The DOT project also has passed state and federal historic and ecological preservation approval.
The total cost of the two concurrent projects, street widening and infrastructure installation, has doubled since its inception in 2003, from $2.3 million to $4.6 million in 2009.
The DOT has informed the city that the grant is based on the 2009 values.
Marsh said he had no idea what inflation would do to the total cost of the project by next year.
"Too many things can change," he said.
On Tuesday, Marsh told the Council, "This spiraling effect is not going to stop."
The delay in the project does allow the city an opportunity to apply for grants to help cover the cost of installing sanitary sewer and water mains.
"We may be able to apply for grants, but whether or not we get them remains to be seen," Marsh added.
The sanitary sewer portion of the infrastructure costs in 2009 was expected to be about $410,000.
In a letter to the city dated January 18, 2010, past Wastewater Treatment Plant Utility Superintendent Jerry Ellefson said a Community Development Block Grant would have matched dollar-for-dollar the utility's funds in the project. A delay in the city's 2008 audit prevented that grant application for this year. The city can apply for the grant again in 2010.
Marsh told Council the city has spent about $750,000 "out-of-pocket" so far, for engineering, surveying and land acquisition.
"That's money you don't get back," he told them.
Aldermen are going to have to consider how to provide for about $350,000 more to replace all water mains.
The water utility had planned only to replace and reroute water lines at intersections, where the new storm sewer would interfere, at an estimated cost of about $182,000. Marsh told the council that replacing all the water mains would cost about $573,000.
Monroe Water Department Supervisor Mike Kennison said Friday that he cannot make any change in the water rates to compensate for the extra cost.
The Monroe Water Utility filed a rate application on Nov. 18, 2009, with the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, seeking a 35 percent rate increase.
The application, based on 2010 test rates, included funds for the 8th/9th Street project, according to Kennison.
The PSC has now refined and "narrowed down" the rate, said Kennison.
A comparison chart prepared by Wisconsin Public Service Commission and sent to the city Jan. 28, shows residential, commercial and industrial customer water bills will increase between 27 to 31 percent.
The increase translates into about $10 more for water and another $3 for Public Fire Protection Service per quarter for an average residential customer, using 1,700 cubic feet of water.
The increase gives the utility about $382,000 more revenue annually.
According to the letter from the PSC, "the large increase in water utility revenues is the result of a 28 percent increase in gross plant investment and a 34 percent increase in operating expenses... since 2004."
Monroe Water Department Supervisor Mike Kennison said he soon will announce the new rates at a Board of Public Works meeting. A PSC hearing on the rate change is scheduled for Feb. 17.
Monroe's last full water rate increase was in 2004, when customers saw water and fire protection increases of 7 to 11 percent, allowing the utility an 8 percent increase in revenue.
The utility received a "simplified rate increase" of about 3 percent which began with the June 1, 2008 quarterly water bill, because the utility's rate of return stood at 1.3 percent. The rate of return is how much a utility is allowed to make.
The new 2010 rate will put the utility back at its PSC-authorized 6.5 percent rate of return on its estimated net investment rate base.
The Common Council passed a motion Tuesday by Council President Dan Henke to redesign the 8th/9th Street project to include full replacement of water mains and sanitary and storm sewer.
But the cost of redesigning the 8th/9th Street plan for infrastructure installation is not known.
"There is no way of knowing," said Mayor Ron Marsh Friday.
Design plans involving the widening of the street will not be changed, Marsh said.
"That's more complex, and would take us away from where we are," he said.
The street widening project involves the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, and has an accompanying grant to cover about 80 percent of the project as planned. The DOT project also has passed state and federal historic and ecological preservation approval.
The total cost of the two concurrent projects, street widening and infrastructure installation, has doubled since its inception in 2003, from $2.3 million to $4.6 million in 2009.
The DOT has informed the city that the grant is based on the 2009 values.
Marsh said he had no idea what inflation would do to the total cost of the project by next year.
"Too many things can change," he said.
On Tuesday, Marsh told the Council, "This spiraling effect is not going to stop."
The delay in the project does allow the city an opportunity to apply for grants to help cover the cost of installing sanitary sewer and water mains.
"We may be able to apply for grants, but whether or not we get them remains to be seen," Marsh added.
The sanitary sewer portion of the infrastructure costs in 2009 was expected to be about $410,000.
In a letter to the city dated January 18, 2010, past Wastewater Treatment Plant Utility Superintendent Jerry Ellefson said a Community Development Block Grant would have matched dollar-for-dollar the utility's funds in the project. A delay in the city's 2008 audit prevented that grant application for this year. The city can apply for the grant again in 2010.
Marsh told Council the city has spent about $750,000 "out-of-pocket" so far, for engineering, surveying and land acquisition.
"That's money you don't get back," he told them.
Aldermen are going to have to consider how to provide for about $350,000 more to replace all water mains.
The water utility had planned only to replace and reroute water lines at intersections, where the new storm sewer would interfere, at an estimated cost of about $182,000. Marsh told the council that replacing all the water mains would cost about $573,000.
Monroe Water Department Supervisor Mike Kennison said Friday that he cannot make any change in the water rates to compensate for the extra cost.
The Monroe Water Utility filed a rate application on Nov. 18, 2009, with the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, seeking a 35 percent rate increase.
The application, based on 2010 test rates, included funds for the 8th/9th Street project, according to Kennison.
The PSC has now refined and "narrowed down" the rate, said Kennison.
A comparison chart prepared by Wisconsin Public Service Commission and sent to the city Jan. 28, shows residential, commercial and industrial customer water bills will increase between 27 to 31 percent.
The increase translates into about $10 more for water and another $3 for Public Fire Protection Service per quarter for an average residential customer, using 1,700 cubic feet of water.
The increase gives the utility about $382,000 more revenue annually.
According to the letter from the PSC, "the large increase in water utility revenues is the result of a 28 percent increase in gross plant investment and a 34 percent increase in operating expenses... since 2004."
Monroe Water Department Supervisor Mike Kennison said he soon will announce the new rates at a Board of Public Works meeting. A PSC hearing on the rate change is scheduled for Feb. 17.
Monroe's last full water rate increase was in 2004, when customers saw water and fire protection increases of 7 to 11 percent, allowing the utility an 8 percent increase in revenue.
The utility received a "simplified rate increase" of about 3 percent which began with the June 1, 2008 quarterly water bill, because the utility's rate of return stood at 1.3 percent. The rate of return is how much a utility is allowed to make.
The new 2010 rate will put the utility back at its PSC-authorized 6.5 percent rate of return on its estimated net investment rate base.