Helena–West Helena council adopts new water and sewer rates to qualify for forgivable funding

The Helena–West Helena City Council voted to adopt separate ordinances that increase water and sewer volume rates and set a range of customer fees, the council said at a public hearing on the proposed changes.

City staff said the changes respond to a rate study by the Arkansas Rural Water Association and a roughly $700,000 shortfall in the utilities' revenue last year. The sewer ordinance sets a minimum bill of $9.27 and a subsequent sewer volume rate of $9.88 per 1,000 gallons. The water ordinance sets an additional-thousand-gallon charge of $7.58, with the base charge unchanged for the first 1,000 gallons, staff said. The ordinances include service charges (service $25; same‑day $40), a $7.50 water and $7.50 sewer new-customer fee (or $15 combined), a 10% late fee, a Safe Water Act fee of $0.40, a $1.50 water-provider assessment fee and a $35 returned-payment charge.

Staff told the council the packet lists a median household income (MHI) for Helena–West Helena of $31,118 and that the combined water and sewer rates meet the state-required test of 1.5% of MHI based on 4,000 gallons of usage — a threshold that can make the city eligible for forgivable loans and grants. "This ordinance and the charges rates and fees meet that requirement such that our community can and will qualify for future long forgiveness, i.e., grants," staff read to the council.

Council members debated the tradeoffs between keeping bills low and making the system financially sustainable. "If your water department is underwater and losing money, you can't maintain your infrastructure," one council member said. Another council member urged colleagues to explain alternatives before opposing the change: "What is your plan? If you don't have a plan, then this is the only thing." The administration also reminded the body that the city faces consent administrative orders requiring substantial expenditures to bring systems into compliance.

Council votes: the sewer ordinance (Order No. 15) passed on roll call; recorded votes in the transcript included Miss Harris (Yes), Mister Miller (No), Miss Maxine Miller (Yes), Mister Eppley (Yes) and Mayor Franklin (Yes). The water ordinance (Order No. 16) also passed on roll call; recorded votes included Miss Harris (Yes), Mister Epperly (Yes), Mayor Franklin (Yes), with at least two council members recorded as No.

Staff said the ordinances include an automatic annual indexing mechanism tied to the CPI for water/sewer/trash ("CPI‑WST") with the council retaining discretion to select a lower percentage. The ordinances also provide that rates for customers outside city limits will be 25% higher than in‑city rates and that the ordinances become effective after the stated emergency clause (the council cited an emergency finding and an effective date in August 2024).

The council's package also lists a wide set of operational fees and tap charges — for example, residential sewer tap $450, various meter-inspection and camera-inspection fees, and security deposit levels ranging from $150 (homeowner) to $250 (commercial) — that staff said were updated after reviewing other Arkansas systems and historical fee schedules.

The council adopted the measures after public questions and staff explanations; no formal alternative funding plan was proposed during the hearing. The ordinances were read and adopted in separate votes, with staff and several council members saying the rate increases were necessary to sustain operations and to access state funding that could forgive part of planned multi‑million‑dollar infrastructure work.

The ordinances will be implemented according to their effective dates and the annual public-hearing requirement for future CPI‑linked adjustments; staff said the first 1,000 gallons of use would not increase under the recommended structure. The council also retained discretion to reprint the packet to correct typographical errors staff identified during the session.

Ending: Council members said they hoped the rate changes would stabilize the utility finances and allow the city to secure grants and loan forgiveness needed for system repairs and maintenance. The council moved on to other business after adopting the ordinances.