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Council approves outside-city water hookup for masonry business after annexation debate
Summary
The City Council approved an outside-city water service request for property at 1371 North Rocky River Road after extended discussion over annexation, long-term tax revenue and policy for commercial outside-service requests.
The Monroe City Council approved a request for outside-city water service for property at 1371 North Rocky River Road, a commercial site associated with Jose Sanchez of Gals Masonry, following a lengthy discussion about annexation and the long-term fiscal impact on the city.
Assistant Director of Water Resources Rich Reiser introduced the item and noted the public enterprise committee had approved the request at its May 8 meeting. "As a matter of policy, outside-city water and sewer customers pay double tap and double customer or monthly customer base charges," Reiser told the council.
Mayor Pro Tem David Dodson (speaking in the discussion) urged broader consideration of the fiscal impacts when staff makes outside-service decisions. "For me, this is sort of like a test case," he said, arguing the council should see an analysis comparing the near-term revenue from an outside connection with potential long-term tax revenue if the parcel were annexed.
City Manager Watson described a complicating factor: the parcel is a single parcel split between the city and Union County, with about one-third of the land inside the city limits and two-thirds in the county. "The property is actually split. It's one parcel with about a third of the property lying within the city limits of Monroe and two thirds lying within Union County," Watson said, noting that split ownership complicates annexation and revenue calculations.
Council members debated whether the city should require or encourage annexation before approving service, and several asked staff to return with an amended policy to address commercial outside-service requests. Staff said the water-resources policy typically handles outside-service requests but recommended policy changes to account for commercial taps so council would have fuller information in future cases.
After discussion, a council member moved and a second was made to approve the water service request; the motion passed without recorded opposition. The city also directed staff to consider policy amendments and bring commercial outside-service recommendations through the Public Enterprise Committee and back to council.
