By KARA DECHALK
Contributing Writer
At Monday’s council meeting council approved Ordinance # 2025-02 providing for the issuance and sale of revenue bonds. These bonds will pay for the improvements and extensions to the water supply system of the city.
“The approval of these ordinances will give us the ability to pursue $24,259,000 in water improvements which include a new million gallon water tower,” said Interim City Manager Doug Terry. “These improvements are necessary to maintain the integrity and the safety for our citizens in their drinking water. We see that movement ahead will be a very good thing for many generations to come in the city of Albion. Along with that are some road improvements, approximately 2.8 million dollars in road repairs associated with this project”.
As was explained by City Finance Director David Clark to council at its Feb. 3 meeting, “This project is not new to the council. This is the water tower project. About 3 million dollars of it was for roads, we sold bonds to finance that. That’s going to take care of that, but the balance of the 24,294,000 roughly is just for the water portion of the project.”
In order to provide backing for these revenue bonds, an increase in the water rates is required. This increase of $.093 per centum cubic foot will result in an approximate $18 quarterly increase per household.
“In this particular case, because of the revenue requirements to pay back these bonds it will be necessary for the city administration to recommend that council adopt a rate increase to help cover 110% of this bond issuance.” Terry explained. “We are seeking council’s approval of increasing the rates to cover the cost and the requirements of this revenue issuance.”
Council unanimously approved resolution # 2025-01, authorizing the increase. They also authorized a request for proposal for new water meter equipment and installation.
Under the current system the meters are failing. Some provide inaccurate reads and others are simply not working at all. While the city water supply system is being upgraded, the installation of new meters will provide more accurate readings of usage per household.
The newer water meter system will also remove the need for meter readers as the readings will come directly to the utility billing office computer. In addition to providing a more accurate read, decreasing a loss in revenue to the city, the newer meters will also help notify the city of major problems.
“The new system will tell us if anything goes wrong. Those meters will report every 15 minutes,” said director Jason Kern. “This goes right to the finance department”
This new system will send an alert in the event of unusually high usage such as a water main break, or an issue, such as a toilet that is continuously running.
In other matters, council approved resolution # 2025-02, transferring $115,000 from the TIFA fund to the EDC for fiscal year 2025. This money is to be used to pay for a shortfall in the EDC’s operational overhead.
The Calhoun County Parks and Recreation Commission 2024 Parks Millage Allocation Report was approved along with an agreement with Granger Services for City-Wide Curbside Clean-up. The city wide clean up is scheduled for Saturday June 21, 2025.
The next meeting of the Albion City Council will be held Monday, March 3 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall, 112 W. Cass St.
