Patterson council looks at inflation's impact on water service

PATTERSON — The Patterson city government is feeling the pinch from inflation.
So the council took a step Tuesday toward keeping up with the cost of providing water by linking water bills to the Consumer Price Index.
Also Tuesday, the council passed an ordinance allowing a formal agreement with Acadian Ambulance for use of the old police station; lowered the speed limit on a stretch of Plum Street and Martin Luther King near a daycare center; and moved toward reclaiming the use of a piece of land on Shady Grove Drive as part of a street repair plan.
The council introduced an ordinance that would automatically increase water bills for the year based on the rate of inflation as determined according to the All Urban Consumer Price Index on Jan. 1 of that year.
Currently, water bills are increased each year by 2%, which is roughly the level of inflation from the 1990s until 2021.
Now, Mayor Rodney Grogan said, annual inflation rates reported monthly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics are running between 5.2% and 5.9%. The price of chemicals needed to treat water and the transportation costs for bringing them to Patterson have been going up, he said.
“We will be looking at a loss of revenue,” Grogan said.
Numbers from the bureau’s website show how fast inflation took hold in 2021. The CPI rose from 257.971 in January 2020 to 261.552 in January 2021, an increase of about 1.4%. In November 2021, the most recent month listed on the site, the CPI was 277.948, up from 260.229 in November 2020. That’s an increase of 6.8%.
The ordinance would apply to residential customers of Patterson water both inside and outside the city and to commercial customers.
Originally, the ordinance based the annual increase on the difference in the CPI from the previous January to the current January. But the council amended it after Grogan said the relevant number would be the inflation rate in the most recent January, not an average for the previous year.
If the bill follows the normal course, a public hearing on the ordinance and a vote on passage would occur at the Feb. 1 council meeting.
Also Tuesday:
—The council unanimously passed an ordinance allowing Grogan to enter a cooperative endeavor agreement with Acadian Ambulance for use of the old police building. The agreement includes a lease for two years.
Acadian already uses the old police station. And the private ambulance company has agreed to pay for repairs to the building’s roof, Grogan said.
But for insurance purposes, the agreement should be formalized with a fixed term, Grogan said.
The city government has plans beyond the two years to demolish the old water plant to make way for a new fire station, and to tear down the police building to improve access. But no funding is yet in place to pay for the new fire station.
—The council changed the speed limit from 25 mph to 15 mph on Plum and Martin Luther King to Hickory Street between 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.
The request came from Michael Ford of the Barney and Baby Bop Daycare, who said vehicles speed past the business in the afternoons.
—The council heard that plans are underway for street improvements in 2022. According to information provided to the council by Melanie Caillouet of Providence Engineering, a meeting Dec. 20 with Patterson officials resulted in plans to put asphalt on Shady Grove, Taft and Bridge streets.
Also, Eighth, Ninth, Jake, St. Mary, St. Lucy, Tall Timbers and Fernwood would be improved by pulverizing and compacting with a proper grade, with a layer of fabric and aggregate on top. “They would not be asphalted, but they would no longer have potholes and the City would have an easier job maintaining them in the future,” according to Caillouet’s presentation to the council.
A cost estimate is still in the draft stage, she said.
One potential problem emerged for the Shady Grove work. The drive is supposed to have a cul-de-sac at the end, which would allow school buses to turn around there. But a roadside property owner has a fence within the servitude for the cul-de-sac. A letter will be sent as a step toward resolving the problem.
A servitude is an agreement that allows one party to use the property of another party for a specific purpose.
—Grogan offered public thanks to churches for donations of food, including food that goes to clients of the Council on Aging.
He also thanked Police Chief Garrett Grogan for the department’s response to fireworks complaints over the holidays and to Planning and Zoning Director William Gil for the $21,000 in building permit fees received by the city government in 2021.
—Grogan also reminded residents that two charter amendments and a council election will be on the March 26 ballot.
If passed, one charter amendment would allow the police chief to receive a salary increase during the same four-year term in which the council approves the raise. Currently, the charter prohibits salary changes for the chief during the term in which the council makes the change. Salary cuts would continue to take effect only after the term in which they’re passed.
The other amendment would require the mayor to have a high school diploma or its equivalent.
Also March 26, voters will pick a council member to fill the unexpired portion of Sandra K. Turner’s term. Turner resigned in July because she was moving out of the city limits. Her daughter, Tina Johnson, has filled the seat since July on an interim basis.
Qualifying for the council election will be Jan. 26-28. Early voting will be March 12-19, except for Sunday, March 13. The deadline for in-person or mail voter registration in time for the March 26 election is Feb. 23.

This story has been edited to fix a type and add information about the new speed limit.