ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 21, 1995 TAG: 9512210066
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Three-quarters of Pulaski's residents will start paying slightly higher sewer bills in February.
Town Council approved a new rate structure Tuesday night. It becomes effective in January and will be reflected in February billing.
Nobody spoke at a public hearing on the new structure, held just before council acted.
The current rate structure charges a minimum of $17.84 per month for up to 3,000 gallons, even if residents use less than that amount. There is an additional charge of $2.56 per 1,000 gallons over the 3,000-gallon minimum.
The new structure will impose a fixed charge based on meter size, plus a volume charge. Most residential customers have 5/8-inch meters, for which the monthly fixed charge is $10.41 (or $20.81 for out-of-town users).
The volume charge is $2.82 per 1,000 gallons ($5.64 for users living outside the town). Nearly 25 percent of town residences use less than 3,000 gallons and will see their bills decrease under the new rate structure. Those using 3,000 gallons or more will see an increase.
Typical billing will see a drop from $17.84 to $13.23 for the 381 customers who currently use 1,000 gallons per month. The 559 customers using 2,000 gallons will go from $17.84 to $16.05. The 614 customers using 3,000 gallons will see an increase from $17.84 to $18.87 per month; the 580 customers using 4,000 gallons, $20.40 to $21.69, and the 473 who use 5,000 gallons, 22.96 to $24.51.
In other business, council granted 50-foot easements to Virginia Gas Pipeline Co. to build a new line through town properties southeast of Gatewood Dam and at Loving Field.
The lines will parallel an existing line built in the early 1960s by East Tennessee Natural Gas Co. Those lines are supplying all the natural gas they can handle, so the additional lines will provide more capacity to serve business, industry and residences from Saltville to Radford.
Jim Talkington, land manager for Virginia Natural Gas, said construction will start from a natural gas storage field at Saltville next fall and reach Radford by the end of 1997.
The town will be paid $2,324 for the five-year easements.
Mayor Andy Graham asked that Town Manager Tom Combiths provide property owners with a 10-day notice when a power company or other utility plans any tree cutting work. That would give property owners time to object, if they wished, or at least be aware of the tree-trimming plans.
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