Trending
CHESTER -- Chester water customers may see a 27 percent increase in the monthly base if city council authorizes a replacement bond.
Council members discussed two ordinances Monday that would fund the upgrades to its municipal water system, approving the first readings.
To institute both ordinances, the city would need to pass second readings and hold public hearing before proceeding to a final approval for passage.
Ordinance 2024-01 would authorize the payment in full of the series 2021 bond notes and create a replacement bond to finance the project up to $1.7 million. The old bond raised $800,000 to pay for initial phase of the water project. This new one would be 10 years in length.
According to documents, the revenue from the collection of these rates will be sufficient to offset the costs.
Last summer, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice paid a visit to Chester, awarding $833,333 of the match toward the multimillion project.
Chester water customers currently pay $25.87 per month for at up to 3,000 gallons of water. This amount would increase to $32.85 monthly, according to Ordinance 2024-2.
This rate increase will not impact sewage rates.
Due to its antiquated water system, Chester water customers are plagued with frequent line breaks.
City officials were awarded initially the Army Corps of Engineers' grant during the summer of 2020. However, this eventually became more of a priority for state officials after the February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine,
While other municipal water systems were able to use modern water treatment methods to remove butyl acrylate from potable water --drawn from the Ohio River and its tributaries --while Chester struggled.
According to Mayor Ed Wedgewood, the Army Corps of Engineers is ready to start on its portion of the project, including bidding it out.
Officials hope to have some of the modernization work on the filtration plant competed by fall.
Pursuant to West Virginia code, the hike would not take effect sooner than 45 days after final passage or adoption.
The hike will replace pumps and filters, install a new type of filtration media, improve the performance of the aquifer, replace backwashing equipment and add crucial valving throughout town, making it easier to isolate breaks, Wedgewood added.
Councilmembers --all in attendance but Nathan Wright --had the first reading of both pieces of legislation Monday and unanimously approved it after hearing from their bond attorney Mark Imbrogno of Jackson and Kelly law firm in Charleston, who participated in a brief phone conference within the open session.
The measures then will have a second reading and be the subject of a public hearing. Neither dates nor times had been announced for either special session as of press time.