Magnolia Mayor Anthony Witherspoon said water rates aren’t going up to pay for new automated water meters, but bills just might rise anyway.
Witherspoon said collections from water bills are expected to rise due to the accuracy of the new meters.
“Citizens’ water consumption habits will change, hopefully, to being more conservative in their ACusage,” he said. “The city may meet them halfway by lowering their rates just a little so the change in their water bill won’t be such a shocker.”
Magnolia officials are hoping for some sort of change in water bills. An audit earlier this year found that the city had lost about $200,000 in water revenue over a year’s time because of faulty meters.
In additional to getting new automated water meters, Magnolia is buying old meters from McComb, not Summit, as earlier reported. McComb has water meters available after it too had switched to automated meters.
Witherspoon said at the June board meeting that waiting for meter upgrades is no longer an option and the city needs to act now.
He said the Mississippi Development Authority has a financing option that offers a loan program with a grant component to assist in the overall cost of the project.
However, the grant does not pay for the entire project. The energy saving contract with Johnson Controls is expected to save the city $85,000 a year.
The new contract with Johnson Controls would help the city of Magnolia find where they are loosing money.
The study will be able to tell the city where it is losing the most water and find solutions to restore revenue for the city.
