NEW PALESTINE — Officials from the Town of New Palestine held a special meeting Monday night to pass ordinances amending the town’s sewer rates and to pass the approval of a bond ordinance to procure funds for the construction of additions and improvements to the town’s sewage works.
The council added an amendment to adjust the sewer rates in Phase 1 of the project for most residents to $93.80 per month plus $5 for storm water and then in Phase 2 of the project which would go into affect Nov. 2026 when the rates will go to $136.95 plus $5 for storm water.
“As initially published and disclosed the single family rate was advertised at $97.15,” council vice president Bill Niemier said.
Niemier went on to say the original Phase 2 rate they thought customers were going to have to start paying in November, 2026 was over $141 plus $5 for storm water, so the numbers have gone down with the amendment, he noted.
“I recognize those changes are not significant, but we want the record to be accurate,” Niemier said.
The new Phase 1 rate increase was going to go into affect in November, however town officials say it will now go into effect on the December bill, and the council voted on the measure to make it so.
“That will allow us to send out notification and allow people to be able to prepare for that first bill,” council secretary Chad Molinder said.
Last week, four different bids for the construction project were received by Common Wealth Engineering, the engineering firm overseeing the project for the town. The bids came from F.A. Wilhelm Construction, $26,199,000; Graves Plumbing, $26,626,262; Kokosing Industrial Inc., $25,119,000; and Thieneman Construction, $23,354,000.
The council has yet to say which one of the bids they’ll go with. That decision will be discussed during the Nov. 6 meeting, council president Teri Reed said.
“We’ll go over the bids and find some ways we can hopefully cut some costs,” town manager Jim Robinson said. “We’re hoping by the time we get to Phase 2 of the project we won’t have to go as high as Phase 2 rates are indicating. We’re hoping we can get new customers, have some new hookups and cut some costs to the original plans.”
During Monday night’s meeting, the council did allow residents to ask questions and discuss reasons for the rate increase again as some residents wanted them to delay the work, which council members have noted numerous times they can not.
In previous council meetings, the council has discussed the need for the project due to the current wastewater treatment plant being near full capacity. The council had already preliminary selected a 20-year level plan for the project with proposed sewer costs per month at the max for citizens so the town could pay off the project as quickly as possible.
The town is still paying for the most recent waste water treatment plant project from a few years ago and will be paying it off for the next several years, they noted.
