Eagle residents upset over prospect of paying up to $1,900 more to acquire Eagle Water Co.
This story was originally published on Sept. 12, 2007.
Eagle residents found out Tuesday what the city’s proposed acquisition of Eagle Water Co. would mean for their pocketbooks.
Some face both higher monthly water rates and a fee as high as $1,900.
The city announced in August that it plans to establish a Local Improvement District to raise the cash to buy the private water company.
The total purchase, including $900,000 in bonding and other costs, is estimated at $7.2 million.
Vern Brewer, Eagle’s city engineer, told a packed City Hall Tuesday evening that residents in the city’s proposed Local Improvement District would be assessed fees of $700 to $1,900 .
“Right now we have a range. We don’t have full-fledged numbers. We just don’t have all the answers yet,” Brewer said.
Brewer noted that Tuesday’s open house and public hearing was the beginning of a long process.
The fees can be paid all at once or over a 20-year period in annual installments of $60 to $160 .
Brewer said the LID would include Eagle Water customers, city water customers and some who have private wells deemed to benefit from fire protection or tap into the system at a later date.
The city proposes a two-class fee system: one for those with existing meters or hookups and one for those who are benefitting by having access to the system and fire protection.
Malinda Van Lith, an Eagle resident who is on well water, would fall into the latter category.
She said she doesn’t think it’s fair that she’d have to pay any LID fee.
“There’s not any way it benefits me,” she said.
Van Lith was one of more than 200 people who turned out for an open house and public hearing at City Hall Tuesday.
Dozens who put their names on a sign-in sheet marked that they opposed the LID.
Mayor Nancy Merrill and all four members of the City Council answered questions in the foyer.
Brewer said that combining the city’s system with the Eagle Water Co. system will create a better overall system for the two sets of water users, with enough wells and reservoirs to provide consistent pressure and dependable service.
Brewer pointed out that city water rates are lower than the rates paid by customers of United Water Co., which serves a section of Eagle.
If the city’s proposed takeover doesn’t go through, a private company, such as United Water, could purchase Eagle Water Co.
This story was originally published July 12, 2007 at 12:00 AM.