McComb’s water rates are rising sharply in an effort to balance the city’s water and sewer fund.
The city board voted 4-2 Tuesday to raise base water and sewer rates by $12.41, which comes out to be about a 16.6% increase.
Effective Oct. 1, the city’s new minimum bill will be $86.88.
Selectmen Michael Cameron, Donovan Hill, Ted Tullos and Shawn Williams voted for the hike. Selectmen Devante Johnson and Ronnie Brock opposed.
City Administrator David Myers proposed the increase as a solution to the water and sewer fund’s losses, which caused the city to struggle to repay its State Revolving Fund loans.
Myers said in a previous meeting that the city should have gradually raised its water rates to this level over a few years, but that never happened, leading to the tight financial situation the city is experiencing.
The city had to approve a $1.5 million injection into the fund from the general fund over the summer to keep up with its loan repayments.
In other news, the board:
• Approved a $6,133 payment to the Pike County Sheriff’s Office for the housing of city inmates in August.
• Ratified the mayor and public works director’s signatures on permits for C Spire to provide fiber optic internet service to the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation.
• Authorized a $2,291 payment and a $139,358 final payment to Dickerson & Bowen for the mill and overlay project.
• Waived the fees for the St. Alphonsus Catholic Church’s Rosary prayer for peace event at the Bo Diddley pavilion on Oct. 16.
• Approved a $5,967 payment to Great Southern Recreation for the east McComb and Algiers park splash pad projects.
• Sponsored the Southern Miss Titans in the amount of $6,000 and rescinded its donation of that amount.
• Hired One Voice to prepare redistricting plans in a 5-1 vote. Tullos was the only vote against.
• Authorized a $16,459 payment to Mitcho Construction and a $1,064 payment to M3A Architecture for their work on the MLK gym project.
• Approved the mayor’s travel to the Economic Development Summit at Co-Lin Community College on Sept. 30.
• Approved the remaining balance of the board’s travel fund to be moved to the Alpha Center Project.
