Council member questions utilities service charge

Local News

July 8, 2010

By Ronica Shannon Register News Writer The Richmond Register Thu Jul 08, 2010, 02:01 PM EDT

BEREA — If approved upon a second reading, the service charge on the minimum bill for residential Berea Municipal Utilities customers would increase from $9 to $12.

However, controversy lies in how the ordinance is written, according to Berea City Council member Jerry Little.

His argument is that the service charge and the energy charge should not be included together in the same budget.

“The service charge is what I’m concerned about,” Little said. “You should have a vote on (the service charge) alone and not have it tied into the main budget. If you think there’s a problem with it, you have to vote down the complete budget.”

Mayor Connelly suggested to Little that the budget could be amended rather than be voted down in its entirety.

The wholesale energy rate increase comes from Kentucky Utilities (KU), the wholesale supplier of Berea’s electricity.

For small to medium-sized commercial facilities, the service charge (or minimum bill) would increase from $10 to $15; and large commercial facilities would increase from $13 to $18.75.

Other customers facing increases include industrial, primary metering customer owned/leased transformers, primary metering non-owned/leased transformers, private outdoor lighting service and net billing service.

“Looks like that should be brought before the council and voted up or down,” Little said.

Little said that upon reading the ordinance for the first time in 2009, “... I didn’t understand that we had to go back every year on the service charge.”

All he was told was to vote against the entire (utilities) budget if he did not like the suggested service charge increase, he said.

“I just can’t see where it should be in the main budget,” he said.

Donald Blackburn, manager of Berea Municipal Utilities, said the service charge being a part of the overall utilities budget and in the rate increase ordinance was something that was being done throughout the state.

“Many communities with municipal utilities are going to some sort of a cost adjustment that occurs annually,” Blackburn said. “Richmond does this, Winchester does this, several places around us are already doing this. The idea behind what we were trying to do was to develop an annual review that would allow (the city council) to go ahead and make minor adjustments.”

Council members voted to have a workshop session to further discuss the matter prior to the next Berea City Council meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 20 at the Berea Police and Municipal Building.

In other business:

• Berea will be home to the state’s first Energy Star community upon the completion of Stoney Creek, located at the intersection of White Station and Herndon Roads off of US 25.

The first phase of the project will include 250 residential dwellings.

Having an Energy Star certified home will be an economical choice for residents, said local real estate agent David Billips.

“Your utility bills are next to nothing compared to your usual home,” Billips said.

The average amount spent on utility bills in the homes being built are between $40 and $65 a month, excluding water, he said.

Many of the Energy Star homes have been built in the Lake Reba area, but Stoney Creek will be the first Energy Star Community in the state.

The community’s plans already have been approved by the Corps of Engineers, he said.

“It’s going to be a great place to be a kid,” said Craig Lee, design engineer for Stoney Creek development.

The community, which will have four construction phases, will include 100 acres of permanent green space around Dog Branch Creek, 7,400 feet of creeks, single and multi-family housing units, commercial property, walking and biking trails, a medical clinic, gas station, day care and a veterinarian office.

The development of Stoney Creek already is under way.

• The council passed the final reading of two ordinances that will annex property into the city limits. The property being annexed includes one acre on 725 N. KY 25 and 105 acres at 290 Estridge Road.

• Berea City Administrator Randy Stone announced that the state’s six-year road plan had been finalized and officially released, and includes several Berea projects.

• A bid was awarded to Wilson Auto Center in Berea for the purchase of a 2009 Dodge Caravan for the tourism department valued at $16,018. Wilson Auto Center was the lowest bidder our of seven, according to Stone.

• Roy Curtis was hired to serve as Berea’s new fire department chief.

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