Residents press council on water rates, IT cuts and governance

Several residents used the public comment period at Tuesday's Percival Town Council meeting to press elected officials on water rates, past fiscal decisions and transparency.

Erica Stout told the council the town charges "nearly 0.5 what it costs to produce or process a gallon of water," arguing that the town has delayed necessary increases and attributing the current fiscal strain and a credit rating downgrade to past mismanagement and debt restructuring. Joan Loehr, a local business owner, urged restoring language to the comprehensive plan and called for larger water and sewer increases with a tiered rate structure so that heavier users pay more. "Raise the rates, put back the tiered system," Loehr said.

Resident Stephanie Marut criticized a prior council justification for cutting $200,000 from IT staffing, saying the comparison to private-sector MSP pricing ignores municipal responsibilities such as cybersecurity and public-safety systems. "MSP per employee pricing does not include...public safety systems, servers, water and wastewater systems, and...cyber security operations," she said, and asked the council to provide the sourcing for outsourcing claims. Other comments read into the record raised concerns about mayoral responsiveness and encouraged the council majority to work collaboratively and respectfully with all members.

The council discussed a codified multi-year rate plan later in the meeting and repeatedly cited the need to demonstrate structural balance to grantors and rating agencies — the same issues residents raised in public comment. The record shows no direct, detailed response to every factual claim made by commenters during the public comment period; council and staff treated some assertions as part of the broader budget conversation.