Jackson's wastewater vote - no new taxes, a dime per day more in fees, says mayor

With an election a little more than two weeks away, Jackson Mayor Dwain Hahs Friday went to Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce to urge a "yes" vote Aug. 2 on a $10.1 million no-tax-increase bond referendum aimed at upgrading the city's 33-year-old wastewater treatment plant and creating more sewerage capacity for one of the faster-growing municipalities in the state.

Hahs said if the plebiscite wins voter approval, Jackson, which the U.S. Census Bureau reported grew in population 12.5% between 2010 and 2020, will have enough wastewater capacity to handle continued growth for another decade.

"We expect to grow again over the next 10 years the way we did over the previous 10, so we're going to need the additional capacity," said Hahs, mayor since 2015.

"If voters OK this, (Jackson) won't have to build another wastewater plant, which would be very expensive."

Hahs stressed there would be no tax increase if the measure passes muster with voters but user fees would go up 10%, one time only, in 2023.

"If you borrow $10 million at a low interest rate, which we will thanks to a state program, you've got to pay it back," he said, noting the bond issue will allow costs to be spread out over 20 years in order to minimize the rate increase for current city customers.

"Our average customer pays $31 monthly, so we're talking about an additional $3.15 -- basically a dime (more) a day."

More than $4.2 million of the planned upgrades would go for sludge treatment.

"Approval will allow us to continue to turn our wastewater back into the rivers and streams south of the city and make it fishable," Hahs said.

"Jackson will continue to have the lowest (sewer) rates in the region," the mayor said of other Missouri locales. "We'll be lower than Perryville and Farmington after the rate increase and effectively the same as Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff."

Hahs noted the 2023 user fee increase would only apply to sewer rates. Water rates, he said, will not be impacted by bond issue passage.