HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Press Release Response 6-4-12 Response to Mayor's Press Releases
Recently, the Mayor issued two press releases concerning the City's summer
relief program for sewer bills and the enforcement of the City's ordinance requiring that
retired employees contribute 40% of their health insurance premium. The Council would
like to address several inaccuracies and misstated facts in the Mayor's two press releases.
Summer Relief for Sewer Bills:
In regard to the summer relief program, the Sewer Board and City Council did not
entirely abolish the summer relief program. Instead, the Sewer Board and City Council
changed the way summer relief was implemented. Rather than arbitrarily reducin g the
sewer bills for every household during the summer months, regardless of whether or not
the household used water for their lawns, gardens, or swimming pools, the new policy
requires verification that the household used water that did not enter the City's sanitary
sewer system.
The Mayor states that the Sewer Board and City Council should use "common
sense" regarding summer relief In considering the changed method in calculating
summer relief, the Sewer Board and City Council did in fact use common sense. It is not
common sense to arbitrarily reduce sewer rates for every household during the summer
months if a household is not watering their ard, garden or filling swimming g g gpo l os.In
addition, when the City increased its sewer rates recently to cover the cost associated
with the required sewer projects pursuant to the Consent Decree with the Environmental
Protection Agency, the elimination of arbitrarily reduced sewer rates for summer relief
was considered and used to determine the amount of the new rates. The City was losing
too much revenue to cover the increased costs of sewer projects mandated by the EPA 4.
Consent Decree and to cover the payment of bonds associated with those projects. If the
summer relief program is re- established to provide reduced sewer rates for every
household for summer relief, then the City may have to increase sewer rates again to
ensure that there is sufficient revenue to pay for the outstanding bonds and for future
mandated projects.
The Sewer Board and the City Council agree that households should not have to
pay sewer fees for water that does not enter the City's sewer system. However, the City
Council believes that the fiscally responsible procedure is that summer relief is granted to
a household that provides proper verification of water usage that does not enter the City's
sewer system, such as verifying such usage with a water meter.
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Retiree Health Insurance Contribution:
In his press release regarding the City's retired employee health insurance
contribution, the Mayor attacked the City Council with inaccurate statements and singled
out by name individual Council members. The Mayor falsely accused the
Y Y City Council
of previously refusing to enforce the ordinance and of inaction during the prior years.
However, the City Council was only made aware of this issue during the past month by
the City's financial controller. When it was made aware of this situation, the City
Council had a fiscal responsibility to alert the Mayor and his administration that the
1 ordinance was not being enforced properly. While the City Council does sympathize
with the retired employees, the fact is that for several years the retired employees have
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enjoyed the benefit of paying a lower contribution than required by ordinance. The City
Council is not requesting that the enforcement of the 40% contribution be retroactive.
The City Council is only requesting that the 40% contribution be enforced going forward.
While the Mayor questions the fairness of this action, the City Council believes that it is i
not fair for the general taxpayers of the city, and not fiscally responsible, to subsidize a
certain sub -set of people by not enforcing an existing ordinance.
The City Council has acted in a fiscally responsible manner regarding the changes
in summer relief for sewer bills and in enforcing the city's retired employee health
insurance contribution. The Council fully discussed and considered these matters. The
Council did not act arbitrarily and instead made fully - informed decisions. The City
Council understands that the Mayor disagrees with the policies set forth in the ordinances
concerning summer relief and the retired employee health insurance contribution, but the
Council fully expects that the Mayor will comply with his statutory duty under Indiana
law and properly enforce all of the City's duly adopted ordinances. In going forward
with city business, the Council hopes that the Mayor will discuss such matters directly
with the Council in an attempt to find common solutions rather than resorting to
inaccurate attacks in the form of press releases.
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