Water rates from district to stay same

By Marlene J. Bohr
mbohr@steelcountrybee.cm
Residents in the member cities of the Northeast Texas Municipal Water District will not experience an increase in water rates from the district, according to board of director decisions at the district’s July 22 meeting.    
The board authorized a draft budget to be sent out to the member cities for comment. This is for the year starting Oct. 1, and running through Sept. 30, 2014.
“The budget is based on no water rate change from the district to the member cites,” said General Manager Walt Sears. “It anticipates a slight increase in the revenue that the member cities will receive from raw water sales to customers other than the member cities.”
Member cities include Avinger, Daingerfield, Lone Star, Hughes Springs, Pittsburg, Ore City and Jefferson.
The board authorized the advertising and bidding of a ground storage tank at Daingerfield. The tank size is 750,000 gallons. That is larger than the existing ground storage tank at Daingerfield. The existing tank’s capacity is 500,000 gallons. With this addition, it will give 1.25 million gallons of water for storage within the city of Daingerfield.
In the budget the district is allocating $8,000 per community to replace leaking fire hydrants. That $8,000 per community is up by $3,000. The current budget allows $5,000 per community.