Published: August 21, 2008 10:59 pm         

Sophia council mulls sewer, finances

Sophia council members raised pointed questions Thursday night about the town’s sewer system and town finances.

Council members voted to table an operation and maintenance agreement that would allow the Crab Orchard-MacArthur Public Service District to temporarily operate the town’s sewer system. According to both Mayor Harry Taylor and PSD General Manager Barry Milam, the agreement would allow the PSD to essentially be a contractor until residents have a chance to vote on whether they want the PSD to totally take over the system.

“It’s your system,” Milam explained. “We would just operate it.”

Taylor said sewer bills could go from $20 to $60 per month if the PSD did not take over, citing millions of dollars in sewer line replacement work that town customers would have to pay for. The advantage of Sophia customers becoming Crab Orchard-MacArthur PSD customers is that the PSD has personnel who can handle repairs in-house. Any major repair costs can be distributed to its 4,000 customers with less impact on individual bills.

“It would be cheaper for us to let them take it over rather than upgrade,” he said.

Taylor said town officials are working to set up the election and they may try to have it coincide with the November general election to save money. There will be another public meeting before the election.

Milam said the PSD would use Sophia sewer fees to operate the system.

However, Councilman John Fanary was alarmed by some legal language in the agreement’s draft. He pointed out the agreement states that any costs incurred exceeding the amount of payments would be Sophia’s responsibility.

“I hope you all are reading this because there are some catchy little things here,” he said.

Milam said fees would probably cover costs except “catastrophic” ones.

Councilman Albert Veneri also questioned why residents had not had the opportunity to vote yet. Also, if council passed the operation and maintenance agreement, he wondered what would happen if voters rejected the takeover.

“I can’t understand why you can’t get the vote to the citizens of Sophia,” he said.

“Say Sophia beats you, and I hope they do. What if they beat the tar out of you?”

Milam said the agreement has been proposed as a “stop-gap.” If residents decided they did not want the takeover, the sewer system would go back to Sophia.

Fanary also asked about the town’s fire fees collected with the sewer bills — and what was happening with them.

“This was to go to a fire truck we don’t have anymore,” he said. “They’re not being used for what it was intended. This is all a tangled cobweb, and I can’t be a part of that.”

Earlier in the meeting, three council members — Fanary, Veneri and Tish Trotter — also said they refused to accept the financial report. No formal vote was conducted.

On the sewer account, Fanary said the balance was $2,883.01 at the end of last month. That should have been carried over to this one. Now, the fund is at $11,729.33.

“I don’t quite understand that,” Fanary said. “It looks, to me, like our beginning balance should be $2,883.

“I know most of us do math and balance checkbooks. These just don’t do it.”

Taylor explained more deposits were being made during one month versus another.

“I have all the deposit slips in my office,” he told Fanary. “I’ll be glad to sit down with you and go over them one at a time. If necessary, I’ll bring an accountant.”

— E-mail: apridemore@register-herald.com