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Regular City Council Meeting <br />April 14, 2003 <br />Page 8 <br /> <br />mandates that the water company is a separate company and is not supported <br />by taxes. He said that raising the taxes has nothing to do with water rates. <br />Councilman Bell said they cannot co-mingle that money because the water <br />department is an enterprise account and must operate on its own. <br /> <br />Mayor Pfiester asked Gene Anderson, Director of Finance, to come forward <br />and stated that there are a few things about water that are inherent such as the <br />city's overhead and the debt service and wanted to know if he had those <br />numbers broken down. He asked what water rate would you have to have just <br />to service the debt that the city has, and the amount of the total debt for the <br />Water and Sewer Fund. Mr. Anderson said the total debt in the Water and <br />Sewer Fund is roughly 35 million dollars, but he would have to go back and do <br />some calculations to determine how much of the water rate goes just for that. <br />Mayor Pfiester asked Mr. Anderson to bring that figure at a later meeting. <br />Mayor Pfiester said that type expenditure is a fixed expense, but everything <br />else is open, and felt that the City Council needed to take a really hard look at <br />things and as we go though the agenda, there are other items that he is going <br />to bring up. If there are reductions in staff, he would let them happen through <br />attrition and not a mass layoff. <br /> <br />Mayor Pro Tem Manning said he had asked Mr. Anderson what it actually cost <br />the city right now if the city does not pass this water rate. He said that if he was <br />not mistaken, Mr. Anderson had told him that $58,300.00 was the average loss <br />per month. Mayor Pro Tem Manning said he wanted people to realize this <br />because he does not want to see the rates go up either, but he wanted people to <br />understand that what we have a large debt to service and the city has to pay the <br />debt off. He said that future councils will have to consider this and the public <br />needs to realize what a monumental task the City Council is going to have <br />regarding the water and sewer rates. Mayor Pro Tem Manning said he knew <br />that Councilman Plata and his subcommittee had studied and worked hard on <br />all these issues. <br /> <br />Mayor Pfiester acknowledged that the city has a $58,000.00 shortfall, but said <br /> <br /> <br />