{"id":61788,"date":"2014-03-18T22:47:20","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T04:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-oks-higher-water-rates-to-fund-infrastructure\/"},"modified":"2014-03-19T04:47:20","modified_gmt":"2014-03-19T04:47:20","slug":"mancos-oks-higher-water-rates-to-fund-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-oks-higher-water-rates-to-fund-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancos OKs higher water rates to fund infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tom
Tom Nunn hooks up the electrical wires to a pump to get water flowing to Mancos residents during the water crisis in February.<\/span>Sam Green\/Mancos Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMancos customers receive a lot more water for less money than customers with other water companies and other small towns in Colorado, and this just isn\u2019t sustainable for investments,\u201d Town Administer Andrea Phillips said at an informational meeting on water rates in February.<\/p>\n

The town trustees voted unanimously to rise rates to fund new infrastructure improvements after months of discussion and research by a consultant.<\/p>\n

The base rate was increased by $5 per month, and for the next four years, the monthly rate will continue to rise by $2.50 a year.<\/p>\n

The maximum number of gallons allowed will be reduced from 10,000 to 8,000, and the overage rates will be increased from $1.75 to $2 per 1,000 gallons.<\/p>\n

At the water dock, users will now pay a quarter for 15 gallons instead of 20 gallons.<\/p>\n

Trustee Queenie Barz introduced the amendment that eased the new rates a little, by only reducing the maximum gallons allotted to 8,000 instead of 7,000 as previously planned. She argued that residents have been planning their gardens at 10,000 gallons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would lessen the blow to those that are high-water users,\u201d said Mayor Rachael Simbeck.<\/p>\n

The amended maximum number of gallons passed as part of the new rate structure.<\/p>\n

The increased rates will help pay for infrastructure improvements that are estimated to cost $2.9 million.<\/p>\n

Replacing 9,000 feet of water mains will cost about $1.5 million, and the new water tank will cost about $1 million, according to a study by RPI Consulting.<\/p>\n

Other needed improvements include new water meters and new water hydrants.<\/p>\n

The improvements could improve help decrease the fire insurance rates by improving the availability of water in town.<\/p>\n

The availability of water contributes to how insurance companies assess the risk and in turn determine premiums. The ability to deliver enough gallons per minute water held back Mancos\u2019 rating, which is currently a six on a one-to-10 scale, Mancos Fire Chief Tony Aspromonte said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fire department can only score so high,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The water volume and pressure as well as the maintenance of hydrants contribute to 40 percent rating, which is assessed by a national organization called the ISO.<\/p>\n

mshinn@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Water rates<\/h4>\n

The base rate for town water will be higher starting in April. These are the new rates not including overage fees for going over 8,000 gallons.
\n User Old rate New rate
\n Residential $26.72 $31.72
\n Commercial $28.22 $33.22
\n Churches, schools, $27.22 $33.22
\n government<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nunn hooks up the electrical wires to a pump to get water flowing to Mancos residents during the water crisis in February.Sam Green\/Mancos Times \u201cMancos customers receive a lot more water for less money than customers with other water companies and other small towns in Colorado, and this just isn\u2019t sustainable for investments,\u201d Town […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[13,1351,295,294],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-61788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-public-finance","tag-water","tag-water-supply"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61788"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=61788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}