Oak Ridge Today

City Council, DOE manager to discuss relations, hiring, housing; water rates also on agenda

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Kenneth R. Tarcza

Kenneth R. Tarcza (Photo courtesy DOE Oak Ridge Office)

 

Some members of the Oak Ridge City Council and some residents have had a few concerns related to the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors, including whether the DOE sites are doing enough to encourage new employees to live in Oak Ridge and whether DOE is paying enough on its payments in lieu of taxes to the City of Oak Ridge.

A more recent concern is whether DOE is paying enough for water supplied by the city to Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex, which are both federal sites.

On Tuesday, the Oak Ridge City Council could discuss these issues as it meets in a non-voting work session with Kenneth R. Tarcza, manager of DOE’s Oak Ridge Operations. The work session, which is open to the public, starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Central Services Complex on Woodbury Lane (behind the Kmart shopping center).

Among the DOE-related items on the agenda are a discussion and review of city-DOE relations, local hiring for DOE projects, housing, and “other related issues.” [Read more…]

Council to consider water rate, sewer rate, trash fee increases

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Oak Ridge City Council 2014

The Oak Ridge City Council is pictured above in 2014. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

 

Note: This story was updated at 10:38 a.m.

The Oak Ridge City Council will consider increases in the water and sewer rates that would go into effect in January 2017 and January 2018 during a regular meeting tonight (Monday, September 12). Council will also consider a trash fee increase that members endorsed during budget deliberations in June.

A 6 percent increase has been proposed for both water and sewer rates starting January 1, 2017. The next year, effective January 1, 2018, a 4 percent increase has been proposed for water rates and a 6 percent increase has been proposed for sewer rates.

A home that uses the minimum amount would pay an extra $2.26 per month for water and sewer starting in 2017 and an additional $2.17 per month in 2018.

A home that uses 5,000 gallons per month would pay $5.33 more per month for both water and sewer in 2017 and another $4.87 in 2018.
[Read more…]

Council approves budget with no tax increase, more money for schools

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Note: This story was last updated at 12:15 a.m.

The Oak Ridge City Council approved a budget on Monday that does not include a property tax rate increase, but it does include more money for schools and it anticipates increases in the trash fee and water and sewer rates.

The budget passed in a 6-1 vote in the first of two readings this month. The second and final reading is Monday, June 13.

Council rejected one motion to lower the $2.52 property tax rate by 4.4 cents and another to take away the additional $538,048 requested by Oak Ridge Schools and put it into the capital fund instead.

The budget does not increase the property tax rate for the ninth year in a row. After five-year reappraisals last year, the rate is now set at $2.52 per $100 of assessed value.

As approved on first reading Monday, the budget includes a 3 percent pay adjustment that will move municipal employees along their pay scales, helping to separate those who have worked for the city for a while from those who have just started. The school budget, which was approved by the Oak Ridge Board of Education in May, also includes 3 percent salary increases. [Read more…]

BBB: OS water, sewer rate hike likely

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Oliver Springs Town Council met Thursday night in regular session and then held a budget workshop. Our partners at BBB-TV report that the main topic at the workshop was how much of an increase in water and sewer rates will be necessary to offset a projected shortfall of almost $248,000 in the city’s Water and Sewer Department.

The city has already borrowed some $2.5 million to pay for repairs to the city’s aging sewer plant as mandated by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and repaying that loan led to much of the projected shortfall.

During the workshop, officials seemed to indicate that a 15 percent hike will be needed this year, but that will not be enough to meet future needs. Keeping the city’s Water and Sewer department going could require 2 percent to 3 percent rate hikes each year for the next several years.

No votes were taken during Thursday’s work session. The Oliver Springs Water Board will meet again on June 4 and could take some action at that time.