PERRYVILLE: VOTERS TO DECIDE WATER BOND ISSUES

PERRYVILLE -- Voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to approve an $8.8 million proposal to upgrade the city's water system.

City Administrator Craig Lindsley called the upgrade "critical" to maintaining water service in the city.

The water system is operating at near capacity, Lindsley said, and needs to be improved to support future residential, commercial and industrial growth.

Two bond issues will appear on the ballot to fund the water system upgrade, which includes construction of a new water treatment plant, new wells and replacement and expansion of existing water lines.

Proposition 1 calls for increasing the debt service levy on the city's property tax by 25 cents per $100 assessed valuation to fund a $4.1 million bond issue for the project.

Lindsley said the levy increase would really restore the 25-cent debt levy voters used to pay for the city pool. That levy expired this year after 12 years.

The city's total property tax levy is 47 cents per $100 assessed valuation. Restoring the 25-cent debt service levy would increase the total levy to 72 cents.

Last year, while the pool levy was still in place, Lindsley said, property owners paid a total levy of 76 cents per $100 assessed valuation, but in the interim the city's general revenue levy and parks levy each were rolled back 2 cents.

"So it would still be lower than the year before," he said.

Proposition 2 calls for adding a new 3/8-cent sales tax to raise $4.75 million for the water project.

Both propositions have to be passed for the project to go forward, Lindsley said, and both require a four-sevenths majority, or approval by 57.1 percent of the city's voters.

Lindsley said city officials are trying to avoid having to raise residents' utility rates to pay for the project, which is why the funding is structured in two propositions.

A sales tax wouldn't generate enough to pay for the total project, he said, and restoration of the debt service levy would be asking voters to keep paying the tax rate they paid for 12 years while the municipal pool was being paid for.

Lindsley said there is plenty of water in the Perryville area, but the current water system doesn't have the capacity to treat, store or distribute it to businesses and homes.

"We need to have expanded infrastructure to meet not only the current needs but to plan for the future of the community over at least the next 20 years," he said.

The water plant on Route T outside the city limits was built in 1928. City officials say it can't meet regulations set for water processing under the Clean Water Act.

The plant draws water from Saline Creek. Three wells also provide water.

The plant and three wells can produce 1.6 million gallons of water per day at 100 percent capacity, Lindsley said.

Average demand for water in the city is 1.2 million gallons daily, or 75 percent of capacity.

Demand for water continues to grow as the city's population increases, Lindsley said.

In 1987, average water usage was 652,914 gallons per day. A recent study projected water use will reach 2.34 million gallons per day by 2018.

Among the proposed improvements to the water system:

-- Construction of a water plant capable of producing 2,340,000 gallons per day at a cost of $6,082,700.

-- Construction of two new wells in the South Fork of Saline Creek at a cost of $566,00. The additional wells would let the surface water plant operate less than 24 hours per day and allow for plant maintenance.

-- Emergency preparedness for supplemental surface water supply during droughts with portable pumping and partial piping installation at a cost of $407,000.

-- Phase I distribution improvements to improve water pressure in the Edgemont Boulevard and French Lane areas, including increasing the elevation of the existing tank by 40 feet or replacing it and installing several 10-inch water lines in the southwest quadrant of the city. Cost is $840,350.

-- Phase II distribution improvements including the installation of two 18-inch transmission lines from the water plant into the city water system to improve distribution and water pressure at a cost of $703,950.

The cost of the improvements total $8.6 million. The proposal also includes a $250,000 bond reserve fund.